Lynn City staff release Spanish-language video with trash, recycling and bulky-item guidance

Berta Tabares, a Lynn City staff member, and José, a Lynn City staff member, appear in a Spanish-language public information video offering residents guidance on trash, recycling and bulky-item disposal. They say the city uses 96-gallon containers for recycling and 64-gallon containers for trash; trash is collected weekly and recycling every two weeks.

The video explains practical rules and services. "Los contenedores de basura y reciclaje deben estar completamente cerrados al momento de ponerlos en la acera," Tabares says, and she notes extra trash must use purple bags available at the public works department during business hours and placed on top of the trash cart. José warns that loose trash can blow in the wind and may not be collected if it is not secured inside a container.

Tabares identifies the hauler for trash and recycling as Capital Waste and says trucks go to a facility in Lynn called Rewards, where they are weighed before and after dumping to compute tons of waste. José says recycling loads go to Casella and Charlestown, Massachusetts, where a combination of machines and workers sort materials to recover recyclables.

The video also covers bulky-item rules and costs: José says leaving large household items on the curb can trigger a fine from the city's inspection department; Topssoft will pick up large items for $55 per unit, and mattresses can be taken to the public works department for $35 each. Tabares adds that most months residents may drop off large items (except construction materials) for free at 250 Commercial Street on designated days marked on the disposal calendar.

On what to recycle, José lists paper, glass bottles and plastics and recommends rinsing and drying containers; he cautions that greasy paper or food-stained boxes should not be placed in recycling. Tabares offers a kitchen tip—reuse supermarket paper bags for sorting recyclables—and lists items that should never go in the recycling bin, including plastic bags, batteries, vehicle parts, polystyrene, hoses, mirrors, paint, textiles, aerosols and tires.

The video closes with a community appeal: José cites Lynn's population as "más de 100000 habitantes" and issues a challenge for each resident to pick up one piece of trash a day. For Spanish-language disposal calendars or questions, Tabares provides a phone number and an email address: Berta.Tabares@linkma.gov. The video ends with a thank-you from the presenters.