Big Blue Barrels Blast into Brookline

Trucks stacked high with blue bins are rolling down the streets of Brookline this week as sanitation crews ready the town for a new no-sort recycling program set to launch next month.

Crews began to drop off the new 96-gallon barrels on Monday and expect to have 6,400 dropped off by the end of the day today, according to Ed Gilbert, the town's solid waste manager. Gilbert said he hopes to have nearly all 13,500 toters on the street by next Thursday.

The new wheeled barrels are meant to replace the smaller bins residents have used for recycling for years, and will allow the town to start its no-sort recycling program on Oct. 4. Instead of separating plastic, glass and aluminum containers from paper waste, residents will be able to place all their recyclables together in the new barrels.

But Gilbert said he's already been flooded with complaints about the size of the new containers, with at least 20 calls coming into his office each day since distribution began. He said many residents, particularly the elderly, have said they are having trouble moving and storing the containers, while others have gotten used to bringing the smaller bins into their apartment or condo and can't find room for the larger barrels.

Gilbert said the town will be able to make accommodations—including smaller barrels—for residents unable to use the new containers, but he's asking residents to wait until after the new recycling program begins in October to request a change. For the next two weeks, sanitation crews are matching a serial number on each barrel to the home where it is dropped off, and Gilbert said he can't make any changes until all the barrels are recorded.

"I'm asking people to try them out, and give me a call if after they're all delivered they're still having problems," he said. "When it's all done and said, I think we'll have some solutions for everyone."

Brookline's waste-collection contractor will not accept the town's older blue bins after Oct. 4, but officials have suggested that residents could keep the containers and use them to move recyclables in and out of the home to the larger barrels.