Beginning on November 1, new regulations in Massachusetts ban the disposal of textiles and mattresses in the trash, as well as decrease food waste from businesses and institutions. Massachusetts previously had a food waste ban on businesses disposing of one ton or more per week, and these regulations lower that threshold to a half-ton per week.
Textiles
Drop-off textile recycling is and has been available at the Hartwell Avenue Composting Facility, any of the Lexington Public Schools, or the Minuteman High School for clothing, cloth items, other textiles, and shoes. All materials are graded and sorted. Top-quality materials will be resold to local thrift outlets, mid-grade is exported to international markets and “unusable” items are recycled into raw materials.
For pickup service, Lexington has entered into an agreement with CMRK, in partnership with the Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation, to service the Town for all textile recycling and recovery and will ensure that every item collected is repurposed with the goal of giving back. You can schedule a home pickup via email or text, for more information visit the Town’s page on textile recycling.
Mattresses
Mattresses are expensive to transport, hard to compact, take up lots of landfill space, and can damage incinerator processing equipment. Yet mattresses are made up mostly of recyclable materials. Once disassembled, more than 75 percent of their components can be reused.
Lexington has contracted with UTEC to handle mattress disposal. Visit the Town’s page for more information on how to arrange curbside pickup.