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Materials / Paper

Paper

Market confirmed

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.

Where it goes

Bin
Mixed paper, with newspaper sorted separately.
Town data
Recycling center
Baled by grade.
Town data
Casella
Under contract for everything from the drop-off windows, per the manager. Casella's nearest recovery facilities are Rutland, VT and Charlestown, MA.
Manager, in person
Tissue, boxboard, packaging
What mixed paper becomes.
Background

Solid border: confirmed. Dashed: likely. Dotted: open.

The numbers

Mixed paper, 2023
103 tons, $2,401.05, about $23 per ton Town data
Newspaper, 2023
20 tons, $1,862.00, about $93 per ton, roughly four times mixed Town data
Mixed paper, 2024
106 tons, $2,913.18, about $27 per ton Town data
Newspaper, 2024
38 tons, $3,982.05, about $105 per ton Town data
Per-ton swing
About $145 for mixed paper: $23 earned plus about $122 in disposal fees not paid, the town's own 2024 rate Inference
Methane
Traps around 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year window Background

What the records show

The claim that paper is better burned or buried is the weakest one in the Facebook thread, and the numbers say why.

Mixed paper still sells. The town moved 103 tons in 2023 for $2,401.05, about $23 a ton. Newspaper sorted on its own moved 20 tons for $1,862, about $93 a ton, roughly four times the mixed price. That gap is the whole argument for keeping newspaper separate.

Each ton of mixed paper sold swings the town's books by about $145: $23 earned plus about $122 in disposal fees not paid, using the town's own 2024 figure. 2024 itself: 106 tons of mixed paper for $2,913.18 and 38 tons of newspaper for $3,982.05.

Rotting is the worst option. Landfilled paper decomposes without oxygen and produces methane, which traps around 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year window, and landfills keep emitting for decades. Paper and cardboard are among the largest organic fractions in a landfill.

Burning isn't the smart shortcut either. The tipping fee still gets paid, you get one burst of energy, and the fiber is gone for good. Paper fiber recycles about five to seven times before it's too short to use. The costs of burying and burning aren't zero. They're invisible.

Still open

Tracked on the open questions page.

Sources

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