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CHEDEMPTION Celebrating 40+ Years

1,263,478* cans and bottles packed and shipped off the island thanks to thousands of volunteer hours… Maine was one of the first states to enact a returnable bottle bill in the US. Enacted in 1976 to reduce roadside litter and increase recycling it faced opposition from beverage distributors but passed into law with a peoples’ referendum. How it came to Chebeague… In the early 1980’S,Gail Miller, a member of the Island Council and Tom Calder, transfer station attendant, got chatting about all the cans and bottles being thrown away. They got the bright idea that maybe there was some way to recycle all those cans and bottles to benefit the island’s non profits. Gail took the idea back to the Island Council and the council and early supporters Mac Passano and Beth Howe helped get a trailer to transport boxes to Chandlers. Frank and Marianne Durgin and family built the shed still in use today. So Chebeague Redemption or Chedemption was born! Glass bottles were counted and packed into banana boxes and cans and plastic bottles into bags and Gail would back the trailer down on to Chandlers wharf.(An incredible feat, not for the faint of heart.) With a teen she would bribe with a soda and chips, they would stack the boxes onto pallets for CBL to take to Portland and then be picked up by a redemption center. 12 or 13 non profits and their volunteers would pack the boxes and the volume continued to increase. In the 1990’s the baton was passed to Laura Summa and Bob Earnest as trailer driver, and the school kids were stacking and shrink wrapping the pallets.

Chedemption continued to grow and getting enough banana boxes and a redemption center willing and able to take the boxes became almost impossible. Concern about kids safety was raised as some of the boxes weighed half of what the kids did. The task of packing and shipping became overwhelming. Unwilling to see Chedemption to die, as it was providing needed monies to the non profits and removing trash from the waste stream a group calling themselves The Baggettes stepped in. Banana box shortages and willing redemption centers on the mainland continued to be problematic.Then COVID came along. Chedemption paused as there were no redemption centers operating. Finally someone came up with trying to use CLYNK. (an idea we had ruled out earlier as bags with glass seemed risky)It was a MIRACLE!!!! No more counting and sorting and tallying and stacking and shrink wrapping and hauling to Chandlers. Thanks to all who help Chedemption continue. Casco Bay Lines who provide cages for the bags and free of charge transport them to Portland for pickup by CLYNK. In the summer season it’s often 100 plus bags in 8 to 10 cages shipped weekly. A HUGE THANK YOU to all the hundreds of volunteers for helping remove the thousands of pounds of recylable cans and bottles out of Chebeague’s waste stream. Thank You to all continue to make Chedemption happen! *No clue how many cans and bottles Chedemption has pulled out of the wastestream...LOTS!!!

JUNE 2025 CHEBEAGUE ISLAND COUNCIL CALENDAR

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