Articles posted by Earthday Admin

Once again we’re going to be a drop off location for rain barrels purchased from The Great American Rain Barrel between now and May 24th.

CATCH IT — SAVE IT — USE IT

“As we continue to experience infrequent rainfall and intense heat waves, it is crucial to take meaningful action to protect our resources. Conserving water during a drought is not just a short-term solution –it is a critical step in addressing climate change.” Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rebecca Tepper — October 2025

The weather has become unpredictable. Droughts intensify, and wells are running dry, while short, heavy downpours cause runoff and flooding instead of replenishing the ground. A rain barrel captures excess water before it is lost, turning a storm into a source of savings. It lets you collect and reuse rainwater from your roof, reducing dependence on municipal or well water. Simple, affordable, and eco-friendly, a rain barrel keeps your plants, lawn, and garden thriving through dry spells, and it is naturally free of chemicals like chlorine and fluoride.

Every Drop Counts — Rain Barrels benefit both communities and our planet by:
-Providing a clean, untreated water source that can be used for gardening and cleaning.
-Decreasing energy consumption and greenhouse emissions at water treatment plants.
-Reducing water bills by up to 40% and can save homeowners 1300 gallons of water annually.
-Using less water helps sustainably manage water as a global resource for future generations.

About The Great American Rain Barrel
-100% re-purposed, food grade, UV protected and BPA free barrels. Produced in Massachusetts.
-Most durable rain barrels on the market: 3/16” wall thickness. Screen filtered to keep mosquitoes out.
-Will last for years when properly drained & stored for winter. Pay for themselves in one year.
-Several rain barrels can be linked together — an easy 5-minute setup.
-Available Colors: Forest Green, Earth Brown, and Nantucket Grey. Also available unpainted.

How to Purchase Your Rain Barrel
Rain Barrels are available for purchase by residents at the discounted price of $80-$89

The Great American Rain Barrel  Select WACHUSETT

Pickup: Saturday, June 6 th , 2026 10:00am-12:00noon
Deadline: May 24th , Midnight

You can drop off 2 boxes but they MUST close and MUST be 30 lbs or less.   We will reject those that don’t meet this criteria.  We simply can’t manage the literal ton of material dropped off on each open day if it’s not packed correctly.  Thank you for your understanding and help.

Here’s our calendar for the month.

When inquiries are made to why we aren’t open more hours/days,  our quick answer is we’d need more volunteers. You might find it surprising to know that more than anything our open hours are limited by how well our visiting residents follow the rules and the extra work it takes us to remedy issues when they don’t.  

Currently we have around 100 volunteers on our roster.  Some are there only on specific open days or only special collection days.  Others prefer to work only on nonpublic workdays to sort, shelve and test items for reuse.   Some of our even less visible volunteers do tasks such as managing social media, volunteer scheduling or data analysis and reporting, repair or transportation of items or serve on our Board of Directors.  A few volunteers are there up to 6 days per week because they handle a broad variety of things.  

We are open a few hours a day, a few days per week.   However, for every hour we are open at least another two or more are necessary for additional handling of what you dropped off.   It’s possible this could be reduced if you could:

-Plan to minimize your time on site.  Traffic will be less congested and slow if you can. 

• Sort and prepare your items at home.  Emptying and flattening cardboard boxes, sorting paper from containers etc or removing packing material and freezer packs from cardboard boxes and styrofoam at home means you’ll need less time with us.   
• Pack so you only need to make one trip around the site.  We have a map on our website.  MAP.  Pack so your first items being dropped off are the last items in your vehicle. 
• Have your ID out, payment ready and pack the vehicle so we can easily assess items or even bring us a list if you did not pack your car. You will be asked at Check-in what is in your car/boxes, so please confirm with the packer what is there.  See our website to check Drop Off Fees  especially if you want to pay in cash.  If planning to pay with cash – PLEASE bring small bills.
• Do not exit your vehicle if it’s blocking other traffic.  Pull over and park.    
• Consider not arriving in the first 30 minutes when the line tends to be the longest.

-Handle your items for reuse with care.  You made the effort to bring it, don’t abandon it. 

  Items being left outside

• Please ask a volunteer if you do not know where an item goes and when they give you instructions, please follow them.   Abandoned items often degrade before we can get them to the right location if they need to be inside.  Other items are often too heavy for one person to move far after hours.  
• If your item is incomplete or non-functional let us know so it can be handled properly.
• When possible, if you have an item you know you cannot move by yourself, bring extra muscle just in case we are short staffed that day.   

Reuse/Resource Building – your LAST stop on the way out

• Pack your boxes so they can be easily handled.  This means 30lbs or less, with securely taped bottoms and lids that close.
• If you are including sharp objects, please wrap them so we are not accidentally injured.
• If your item has dirt, food, unknown residue on it – wash it or trash it at home.
• Please stop dumping lots of small items into a box with other random things.   If you group smaller items, such as parts to a game, pens/pencils or craft supplies in smaller boxes, bags, elastics etc we can get them shelved faster with less handling.

If you could follow these rather simple instructions, we might be able to do more with the same volunteers for longer hours or we might be able to cut back on the number of volunteers on a given day in order to add another day or set of hours to the weekly schedule.

We’ve added some new visual aids near our Check In booth to help volunteers and residents understand how we price out their loads of household project debris.  We do not have a scale to weigh loads as some sites do so instead we price the loads based on the volume of material ($60 per cubic yard) and potentially add on surcharge ($10 minimum per cubic yard) for heavier loads.  Prices are at the discretion of the Check In Volunteer.   When possible we’ll do our best to assess how much is metal (thus free) or another item with a lesser fee so please pack the load so we can accurately assess the fees.

When they come to the Recycle Center each section is priced individually – not priced as one couch/sofa.   If it has a reclining end, that is priced as a recliner.  If there is a sleep sofa section, that is priced as a sleep sofa.   Individual seats are priced as upholstered chairs.  Chaise sections vary greatly in size and are priced accordingly.  Prices are at the discretion of the Check In Volunteer.