Natick Massachusetts

holds throughout the town that are participating,” he says. These households separate their food waste, including meat, dairy, bread, fruit, and vegetables from trash and recycling, and dispose of it in a special curbside bin that is collected by the town on a weekly basis. So far, the town has been collecting approximately 1.5 tons of food waste each week, with a “set-out” rate of about 85 percent. In addition, the town conducts curbside collection of residen- tial yard waste twice a year, and re-uses much of the mulch it makes from these collections. Natick also has regular collections of household hazardous waste, and at its recycling center, it processes many “hard to recycle” materials, such as books, paint, used motor oil, batteries, light bulbs and tires. The town is also part of a mattress recycling program, having received a two-year grant from the Commonwealth’s Department of Environmental Protection. Any mattresses it collects from residents are recy- cled at no cost to the town. Finally, the town is also looking at expanding a textile recycling program it already has at its public schools into a town-wide program for the curbside collection of textiles. The collected textiles would be processed for reuse or the materials recycled. Keeping the public informed of all these various recycling programs and their schedules is essential to maintaining partic- ipation, so Marsette says that the town communicates with its residents via a smart phone app and a web portal.“Residents can sign up for an account and receive reminders of when their col- lection dates are scheduled,” he explains.“We post news about unique collection events and alert customers of when we have to change a collection day due to holidays or winter weather.” Art Goodhind is Natick’s Land and Natural Resources Division Supervisor and Tree Warden. He talks about two big projects in his division that further demonstrate the town’s commitment to best environmental practices.“We partnered with Smart Water Management, and upgraded to a centralized irrigation system that operates off of evapotranspiration data,” he begins. (Evapotranspiration is the process by which water vapor is transferred from the land to the atmosphere by evaporation from the soil, and by transpiration from plants.) “That helped us more efficiently identify when we have leaks, so we’re able to make repairs quicker, reduce overwatering, and knowwhat the plant actually needs and supply that amount of water.The centralized system can be accessed from an IPhone or an IPad or any other device. It constantly sends information like flow rates,wiring issues, pump issues; it can self-diagnose - if you’re mowing over an irrigation head and break it, that computer is smart enough to notify you via email or an alarm on the system,which is reviewed daily.Or it can shut itself off immediately so you’re not bubbling water for no reason. It’s been pretty innovative for us.” Goodhind’s second big project involves a grant from the Toxic Use Reduction Institute at UMass Lowell, in partnership with Osborne Organics and Beyond Pesticides, for a pilot project in organic land care for Natick residents and lawn care businesses.“It’s basically land, or turf, care without the use of pesticides,” he says.“That’s a sustainable approach in terms of using organic products that are much less toxic to the environment.We’re in year one of a three-year project and the results have been very good, so far.” NATICK, MASSACHUSETTS Haley and Ward, Inc. provides civil engineering services to municipalities and industries, and continues a tradition of client service and engineering excellence that dates back to 1897. Although much has changed over this period, one thing has always remained constant... Our Commitment and Dedica- tion to Our Clients Our projects are viewed as relationship builders not solely as profit generators. Our philosophy is to provide professional engineering services that meets and often exceeds the expectations of our clients. Our more than eighty year relationship with the Town of Natick, Massachusetts is an example of one of our long term relationships. 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