MORRISTOWN – Erika Schaper works for the Lamoille Regional Solid Waste Management District (LRSWMD). She helps deliver outreach and education across Lamoille County and the towns of Craftsbury and Worcester. She was a high school science teacher before working for LRSWMD and has a background in biology with a minor in chemistry. Schaper has been working with LRSWMD since June 2024.
Schaper sees waste, what we consider to be not useful or past its purpose, as an entirely human concept. If we look into nature, there’s circularity, resources have something to go back into. There is no waste. “Humans have a consumption problem. We consume complicated, toxic things, and many of them are hard to avoid. Take plastics for example, they’re everywhere. The best thing we can do is consume less, consume used, get resourceful and reuse as much as possible, and then recycle,” she said.
There’s evidence to support that waste management as a concept first started in ancient Greece. A law was established ordering garbage to be disposed of one mile away from the city of Athens. In modern society, waste has become an emerging topic with the rise of industrialization. Within the United States, repurposing and recycling became a big part of the Great Depression. This idea of giving new life to resources such as metals, paper, and rubber from tires extended into World War 2 with the “Salvage for Victory” campaign.
Today, with much growth and development, waste management has become a fundamental part of life, even if we don’t realize it.
In Vermont, waste management is dealt with at many levels, including the municipal level, state level and in the private sector.
LRSWMD is a municipal entity that helps oversee waste management across 12 district towns with around 26,000 residents. In her role as the outreach coordinator, Schaper helps educate community groups, schools and businesses to encourage waste reduction and sustainable materials management across those towns.
Waste management today involves a mix of human power, technology and evolving policies. For example, there are currently two material recovery facilities, also known as MRFs, in the state of Vermont. MRFs sort out Vermont’s mandatory blue bin recyclables (paper, plastic containers, steel and aluminum cans and glass bottles and jars)to be sent to downstream processors. The Vermont MRFs use a combination of machinery and hand sorting.
The MRF in Williston now takes in about 70% of the recyclables in the northern part of the state. There’s talk that a new MRF with more advanced technology will be built sometime in the near future by a Vermont solid waste management entity. At the policy level, EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) programs exist for special materials such as paint, fluorescent bulbs, mercury containing thermostats, electronics and batteries. EPR laws hold manufacturers financially responsible for the cost of proper disposal of these materials at their end of life, taking the burden of figuring out what to do with the materials off of consumers. Paint and batteries for example can be dropped off for free at year-round collection locations.
Miseducation surrounding recycling systems today has been widespread and prevalent since 2017 when China stopped importing materials from the United States. In Vermont, this change had little impact because markets have mostly been within domestic borders. Discouragement in the system and lack of knowledge sometimes keep people from taking local action to participate in recycling programs. “There’s a huge misconception that recycling is broken, but it’s not, and myth busting these facts is a big part of my job,” Schaper said.
Schaper states that the best way people can make a difference in the amount of waste they produce is to “Form small action teams, inspire and educate your neighbors, build local community resilience, buy local as much as you can. . . We need to make our economies as local and circular as possible.”
LRSWMD’s mission is to reduce the quantity and toxicity of trash generated and going to the landfill while maintaining or improving overall environmental quality (air, water and soil), treating customers and employees with respect, and operating within a balanced budget. LRSWMD manages organics (food scraps, leaves, and yard debris), garbage, recycling, across five drop off sites in Craftsbury, Johnson, Morrisville, Stowe and Worcester. LRSWMD runs a commercial compost center, Lamoille Soil, which uses an aerated static pile process to make compost that is approved for use on VT organic farms. The District also hosts bi-annual household hazardous waste collection events.
Michael Apicella contributed this story written for the Sterling College Science Communication course. Apicella is a student in Environmental Studies with a focus in Ecology.
