This biweekly column tries to answer some of the most commonly asked questions about recycling, composting and the town's solid waste program.

This week we begin an ongoing feature to let people know how much Lexington residents are putting out into the trash and recycling each month. See the accompanying chart. The four-year average is to indicate a general idea of Julys in the past. July 2001 was the first month under PAYT, and last month was again without PAYT. The tonnage numbers don't include yard waste (unless people are sneaking it into the trash illegally), white goods such as refrigerators, or items dropped off at special collections such as the Hazardous waste or CRT days. It's startling to think about how much solid waste the town generates. Lexington's population in January was just over 31,000 people. In July each person (on average) sent 52 pounds of trash to the incinerator. Careful shopping for items without much packaging or waste, donating unwanted goods to charities, composting kitchen scraps and many other simple lifestyle changes could reduce this amount.

Q: I have a still-packaged, unopened bottle of Christian Dior perfume that has a warning label on it saying the contents contain a chlorofluorocarbon that may harm the environment. I hesitate to give the bottle away for that reason. Any advice?

A: Presumably this has been sitting around for many years, as the practice of using CFCs for propellants. in aerosol cans started being phased out in the late 1970s. If you put it into the trash, the pollution would probably enter the air from the incinerator, so go ahead and use the perfume if you want, and then throw away the empty can. This can at least contains only a small amount of CFCs. What is more urgent is for people to make sure that refrigerators and air conditioners are disposed of responsibly by a place that will recapture the CFCs.

Q: I'd like to buy school supplies made of recycled materials. Where should I shop?

A: Staples sometimes carries certain goods made of 'recycled paper. There is a state standard for printer and photocopy, paper, that it should be at least 30 percent recycled, and manufacturers such as Great White and HP make some papers to meet the standard. Many stores have one or two items - a note pad, index cards, etc. Check around. When you see the recycled symbol on a label or product, look at it more closely - just because some, thing proclaims itself to be recycled doesn't mean that the percentage of recycled material is very high - try to get a much post consumer recycles material as possible. Talk to the managers of the store you usually use, and ask them to stock more goods made of recycled content.