Q: It would be good to have public recycling containers in Lexington Center in addition to trash cans. How can this be arranged?

A: It would need the involvement of the DPW to begin with. There has been some discussion of a bottle and can recycling receptacle at the playing fields on Lincoln Street. If it works out, maybe it could be expanded to Lexington Center as well. The example of Cambridge might be useful. They have some very sturdy designated bottle and can recycle barrels along Massachusetts Avenue in Central Square and other areas. Local businesses sponsored the barrels (which are decorated and have tops with circular holes). Cambridge included the cost of picking up this recycling when they negotiated the latest contract with the truckers that collect their residential recycling. Their barrels are emptied once a week. For a similar plan to work in Lexington, the town would have to arrange with Waste Management (our trash and recycling hauler) to pick up recyclables from the designated barrels, and find local sponsors for the barrels themselves.

Success would also require the efforts of the people disposing of containers. On Discovery Day for a number of years, there have been recycle barrels or boxes for containers out as well as trash ones. Picking through them leads to the conclusion that many residents aren't paying attention to what goes where. If the recycling barrels are filled with trash, it won't be worth the labor costs to extract the recyclables.

Q. Since there is not a local collection site for #4 plastic bags, how would we go about setting one up? It could be for veggie bags, bread bags and newspaper bags.

A: Recycling bread bags, produce bags and the bags from frozen vegetables would require that people wash them carefully before bringing them back to the store. Bits of food will spoil the whole recycling batch. You could re-use your bags as long as possible and then put them in the trash. If you spoke to a business (like a supermarket) about being a place for people to drop off clean bags, you might be able to get them to agree, but just one store would probably not yield enough bulk to make it worth collecting - when recycling brokers such as Conigliaro or KTI sell the recyclables to the manufacturers, they sell them by bale (several hundred pounds) or pallet or even shipping container full of whatever item. I'm sure Lexington residents use lots of plastic bags every day, but the bags are light weight and very squishable and to get a bale's worth might take quite a while, especially if you're counting on people to wash them first and then remember to take them back. The store would have to put up a collection bin for the bags and monitor it a bit. The truck driver who picks up the other plastics would have to keep them separate, and the broker would have to set aside warehouse space for weeks or months until they get a brokerable amount. Sometimes the return for effort isn't worth it. Your volunteer organizing time might be better spent helping to educate people about source reduction and reuse, which a really are higher priorities than recycling.

Another thing to remember is that no plastic bags should ever be in the household recycle bin, because they clog up the plastic sorting machines at the recycling facility. Many local office supply stores sell printer/copy paper that has 30 percent recycled content but to get a higher percentage, ordering online might be a good idea. For example, see: store.yahoo.com/greenearthofficesupply/.

Reminder from the DPW

The loss of curbside yard waste collections includes the cancellation of the annual curbside collection of Christmas trees. People will be able to drop off their Christmas trees at 201 Bedford St. until Jan. 31. Dropping off trees at the compost site is subject to weather and it would be best to call the DPW before going to the Hartwell Avenue site.

Got a question or a suggestion? You can reach us by calling the League of Women Voters line at 781-861-0123 or by e-mail at lexrecycles@hotmail.com. For more information, check out the SWAT Web page at www.lexingtonma.org/swat/HomePage.htm, the town's Web site ci.lexington.ma.us (click on the Solid Waste quicklink) or call: 781-274-7298.