Recycling Returns
Where Peterborough's recyclables actually go, who buys them, and what comes back. Built from town and state records, one material at a time.
Someone asked on a local Facebook thread whether there's still a reason to recycle. The honest answer turned out to be material by material. Here it is, with sources.
The short version
Glass
The pile has never left the center. The plan, per the manager, is to sell it to the town as gravel fill, including bedding around water pipes. Ceramics in the bin rule out the bottle-to-bottle route.
Plastic bottles and jugs
#1 bottles were sold to a real buyer in 2023: 17 tons for $1,160. #2 jugs shipped nothing that year, probably stockpiled.
Plastic film
Bags and bubble wrap are collected on their own and go to Trex for decking, per the manager. How much of it makes it into a board is unknown.
Metal
The moneymaker. 206 tons of scrap sold in 2023 for $28,742, more than every other commodity combined. In 2024, 15 tons of aluminum cans brought $18,426 on their own.
Cardboard
Fully real. 116 tons sold in 2023 for $6,742, about $58 a ton, plus the disposal fee the town didn't pay.
Paper
Mixed paper still sells, at about $23 to $27 a ton, and newspaper sorted on its own brings about four times that. Landfilling paper is the worst option because it makes methane.
Textiles and tires
Textiles sell: 12 tons for $1,228.50 in 2023, 18 tons for $1,820 in 2024. Tires don't. The 2023 tire figure is fees collected from residents at drop-off, and in 2024 tires cost the town $2,771 to get rid of.
Compost
Food scraps are composted on site and the finished compost is free to residents. Nine tons in 2023, tiny next to what the town generates. Never leaves town, by design.
What came back, 2023 and 2024
| Material | 2023 tons | 2023 revenue | 2024 tons | 2024 revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrap metal | 206 | $28,742.00 | 132 | $18,495.95 |
| Corrugated cardboard | 116 | $6,742.26 | 105 | $11,151.99 |
| Mixed paper | 103 | $2,401.05 | 106 | $2,913.18 |
| Newspaper | 20 | $1,862.00 | 38 | $3,982.05 |
| PET (#1 plastic) | 17 | $1,160.25 | 0 | $0.00 |
| Textiles | 12 | $1,228.50 | 18 | $1,820.00 |
| Tires | 8 | $1,969.80 | 12 | $2,771.00 cost |
| Food waste (composted on site) | 9 | $0.00 | 11 | $0.00 |
| HDPE (#2 plastic) | 0 | $0.00 | 0 | $0.00 |
| Aluminum cans | 0 | $0.00 | 15 | $18,426.40 |
| Steel cans | 0 | $0.00 | 0 | $0.00 |
| Total | 491 | $44,105.86 | 437 | $56,789.57 |
Town-published figures: the 2023 revenue sheet and the 2024 DPW Recycling annual report Town data. No glass line appears in either year. The 2023 tire figure is fees collected at drop-off, and in 2024 tires were a cost. Aluminum shipped in 2024 after none in 2023; PET, HDPE, and steel cans shipped in neither year. Per-ton math, 2025 totals, and facility facts.
Where the money is
- Commodity sales, 2023
- $44,105.86, including tire fees, for 474 tons sold Town data. 2024: $63,169.39 per the annual report
- Bag sales and disposal fees, 2023
- $129,024.13 Town data
- Disposal avoided
- The town reports $57,096 avoided in 2024 and $33,062 in 2025 Town data. At the 2024 rate, about $122 a ton, 2023's 474 tons sold would have avoided roughly $57,828 Inference
- All non-commodity revenue, 2023
- $151,899.13: bags, disposal fees, permits, and the Town of Sharon's share Town data
How to read this
Every claim carries one of those tags. Town data and state data are records. Press is the local paper. Background is general industry or science context. Inference is this site reasoning from the records, and it's labeled so you can weigh it yourself. More on the method, and the four Facebook claims checked one by one.
Latest
2026-09-13 Two more years of town numbers, and a second conversation confirmed. Findings log and open questions.