August 31, 2010 - Click here to see moving of Boxes for redemption.
October 17, 2000 - Gail Miller, Mac Passano and
Beth Howe prepare to send over cans and bottles from Chedemption
to the mainland on the Casco Bay Boat. Every week they spend many
hours organizing and handling all the cans and bottles. Although
we don't need people around the clock at the transfer station
we still need volunteers for handling all the returnables.
September 17, 2000 was the official opening of our new bottle
and can redemption operation at the Chebeague Transfer Station.
Beth Howe told us all about the history of the project and then
the ribbons were cut by the builders of the building. Unfortunately
the original mastermind behind the project Gail Miller was away
but we are all greatful to her leadership. The other principles
were Tom Calder, Beth and Mac Passano, Frank and Marriane Durgin,
Dick Collins, Al Traina and John Maxon.
Ribbon Cutting
Builders: Frank Durgin, Dick Collins, John Maxon and Mac Passano
CHEDEMPTION: or, The Last Drop
Chedemption -- the beverage container redemption effort for
Chebeague Island -- began at the beginning of this summer. Sanford
Doughty has been doing Chebeague's bottle redemption, pretty much
on his own, for a number of years. The proceeds have supported
the development of the Skating Pond. But this Spring Sanford
decided to get out of the redemption business and, between his
urgings, and the returnable bottles and cans piling up at the
Transfer Station, a small group of volunteers organized
to fill the gap. Gail Miller, Tom Calder, Al Traina, Mac
Passano and Beth Howe began just with the bottles from the Inn.
But once the system of storing them in the shed behind the
Nellie G (lent by Fred Martindale, John Thaxter and CTC) and shipping
them off, free, on the Casco Bay Lines Maquoit II, was found to
work, the effort expanded to the Transfer Station as well.
Over the course of the summer Chedemption, as it came to be
called, recruited 28 volunteers who put in more than 184 hours
at the Transfer Station -- helping people learn how the redemption
sorting should be done. In addition volunteers picked up
bottles at the Inn, sorted at the shed behind the Nellie G, ferried
the boxes and bags of returnables to the Casco Bay Line wharf
and packed them on pallets for shipment. Once in Portland the
returnables are picked up by a Portland redemption center -- initially
Jetport Redemption, and now East End Redemption.
We knew, however, that we could not always have volunteers
staffing the Transfer Station. We needed some system by
which the redemption would more or less run itself, summer and
winter, rain or shine. This required a building to keep
the collection out of the weather and allow each day1s accumulated
returnables to be stored. Doug Damon drew up a plan of what
we needed. John Maxon found that we could buy a ready-made shed from Home Depot
less expensively than we could build it from scratch. Adam
Ogden, the Town's Public Works Director, got approval for us from
the State to have it at the Transfer Station. And Casco
Bay Lines shipped the shed from Portland for free.
The grand opening of the redemption shed at the Transfer Station
was held at 11:00 on Sunday September 17. The
construction committee -- Dick Collins, Construction Superintendent,
Frank Durgin, Chief Engineer, John Maxon and Mac Passano, labor
-- cut the official ribbons while the ceremonial bottle of champaign
popped its cork. Beverly took pictures for the web site.
When all the money up to Labor Day (actually September 6)
comes in, there will be a distribution of the proceeds to 12 voluntary
organizations on the Island: Chebeague Care Resource, the Island
Council, the Hall, the Historical Society, the Methodist Church,
the Chebeague Parents' Association, the Recreation Center, the
Cumberland Mainland and Islands Trust, the Sailing School, Sanford's
Skating Pond and the Stephen Ross Scholarship Fund. According
to the Chedemption treasurer, Gail Miller, the money made
during the summer should be about $1820. The shed at
the Transfer Station cost $765.56, and the Recompense Foundation,
wanting more of the proceeds to go directly to Island organizations,
gave us $500 toward that. So after the remaining $265 for
the shed and $60 for supplies are deducted, we expect to distribute
about $1500. And of course, money is still coming in, though
clearly it will be less during the winter.
Now that the redemption shed is open, we are assuming that
everyone can do their own sorting. If you aren't sure what
is redeemable, there is a sign on the building to help you, as
well as some small fliers that you can take home and stick on
your refrigerator. Thank you to everyone who has brought
their returnables! The proceeds go to many good causes.
And thank you to all the volunteers
who have made this such a success so far! We just need to
keep up the good work through the winter and rev up again for the
big season next summer.