Swap shop surges

BUCKFIELD — A local recycling program has nearly doubled over the last two years by taking tons of trash out of the waste stream.

Mary Standard of the Swap Shop told the Board of Selectmen that the year 2010 saw 78,545 pounds of recycled material leave the shop, a 24 percent boost over the 63,000 pounds recycled the previous year.

Two years ago, the shop processed fewer than 40,000 pounds of material.

Standard said that the success of the program goes beyond the number of pounds.

"It's not the tonnage that's going out," she said. "It's the people that are getting help. I know we just recently had a family in Sumner that was burned out, and we're going to make anything available to them that they need that's in the Swap Shop, of course."

The Swap Shop operates by the good efforts of approximately 30 volunteers, many of whom spend long hours in the poorly-heated structure.

Standard said that a recent effort to insulate the structure has been much appreciated, but doesn't completely address the heating issues.

"What gets cold is our feet because of the metal floor," said Standard. "But we are very, very happy to be a lot warmer. The thermometer actually got up to, I think, 40 one day.  That is quite something."

The Swap Shop was begun in 2007.