Found myself in Westford, MA yesterday following a trip to the dentist. Given it was the first day of spring and the sun was shining I couldn't resist launching my boat into Stony Brook in the village of Graniteville. How could I resist such a unique boat launch sign? Water levels remain high from last week's nor'easter allowing my boat and me to pass over nearly all of the usual obstacles on the brook such as beaver dams and fallen trees. Stony Brook flows northward from Forge Pond in Westford to the Merrimack River in North Chelmsford.
Headed a short distance upstream to the dam which long ago served the Abbot Worsted Mill located on North Main Street...
The old mill's tailrace outlet can be seen to the right of my boat's bow.
The 2-story mill built of local granite has an elegant bell tower and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
Heading downstream the brook's usual channel was hard to determine due to the high water levels...
Went downstream alongside the nearly 400 acre Stony Brook Conservation Land to the Stony Brook Railroad's (now CSX) still active bridge over the brook...
Trash included 15 miniature alcohol bottles along with a new player in the miniature alcohol container market seen at the bottom of the photo (the orb-shaped reddish container)...
It's a miniature cocktail container holding 187 ml (about 7 ounces) compared to the 50 ml (about 2 ounces) of a traditional miniature bottle. Both are marked with the recycle triangle #1 pete which stands for polyethylene teraphthalate. The miniature cocktail container has what looks like an aluminum top that opens like a beer or soda can. Here the two miniature containers are seen side by side...
The miniature cocktail container has a 5-cent redemption value in Iowa and Vermont as well as a 15-cent redemption value in Maine. The container is labeled "Made with 15% recycled plastic". The "traditional" miniature spiced rum bottle on the right has 5-cent redemption value in Maine (only). Unfortunately neither container has a redemption value here in Massachusetts.
Interestingly the manufacturer of the miniature cocktail orb states on their website that they've partnered with a recycling entity, and offer a program whereby they encourage their consumers to "send their empty containers" to this entity so they can be recycled. Does anybody really see that happening?...or am I just becoming more and more cynical?
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