Berkshire businesses recycling more

Together, the businesses recycled 480 tons of paper in 2007, according to Jamie Cahillane, the director of the center's recycling services, up from 431 tons in 2006.

Cahillane said on Monday the surge reflects a parallel increase in the number of businesses that contracted for the center's services in 2007. That number rose from 135 to 160.

Cahillane used the "Environ-mental Benefits Calculator" developed by the National Recycling Coalition to show recycling nearly 500 tons of paper conserves 9,700 trees, 2 million kilowatts of electricity, 3 million gallons of water and avoids the production of 29,000 pounds of air-polluting gases.

Cahillane said factories do use those same resources to process recycled paper, but far fewer than "virgin" paper manufacterers use.

"Sometimes people wonder if, by doing their small part, they will really be able to make a difference," Cahillane said. "We demonstrate the significant benefits from their collective Advertisement efforts."

Cahillane listed North Adams Regional Hospital, Massaschusetts College of Liberal Arts, Massachu-setts Museum of Contemporary Art, Williams College, Berkshire Bank, Dion Money Management, Village Ventures, Storey Publishing and C.W. Construction as Northern Berkshire customers.

North Adams Regional Hospital alone recycled 42 tons of paper in 2007, up from 30 tons in 2006, according to Joseph Choon, director of Environmental Services at the hospital. Center for Ecological Technology contractors transport the hospital's waste paper, which contains confidential patient information, in secured vehicles to a mill in Erving, where machines shred the documents and turn the pulp into tissue paper.

Choon credited the staff's overall concern for a healthy planet as a primary reason so many of its members recycle paper. He said there are also recycling baskets next to every desk. He estimated the hospital recycles about 35 percent of the materials in its waste stream. The cost of disposing of recyclable material is "significantly" less than disposing of trash, Choon said.

The Center for Ecological Tech-nology is 32-year old non-profit organization supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council that has offices in Pittsfield, North-ampton and Springfield. The center's mission is to "research, develop, demonstrate and promote those technologies, which have the least disruptive impact on the natural ecology of the Earth," according to its Web site, www.cetonline.org.

In addition to paper, the center also helps businesses, schools, towns and households dispose of rechargeable batteries, cell phones, ink jet and laser printer toner cartridges, electronics, cardboard, fluorescent lamps, scrap metal and organic material.