New Shed is a Hit

If you have bottles and cans to recycle, you might want to swing by the Norfolk Transfer Station. In exchange, you’ll get to see what just might be the coolest bottle and can collection shed in the area.
About two years ago, parent volunteer Joe Buckley decided to help promote the King Philip Music Association’s (KPMA) bottle and can fundraiser by remaking the transfer station’s shed into a giant boom box. The Norfolk shed alone raises about $8,000 in bottle and can donations each year, money which supports music instruction in all the schools in the tri-town area, as well as at the high school.
“Dimensionally, it was the right shape,” said Buckley, a Norfolk resident. “All it needed was a few components to be painted and bolted to the container.”
The project was completed this past Memorial Day, although Buckley’s original goal was to finish the shed when his son Andrew was a senior at the school in 2018.
From start to finish, Buckley estimated the project took 18 months of occasional work. Costs for the materials were supplied by the KPMA, with Lowes in Plainville providing a 30% discount because the KPMA is a non-profit organization.
KPMA former president Barbara Snead said the shed was last refurbished about six years ago for an Eagle Scout project. The KPMA has a bottle and can donation shed in all three King Philip towns. The three sheds raise about $14,000 in total each year for the music program.
The program runs on volunteers, said Buckley, noting that in both Norfolk and Wrentham about 175,000 bottles and cans are sorted, with each generating a nickel for the music program.
According to Buckley, five families currently volunteer at the shed. He is finally stepping down—his son is already a year out of high school--so the organization is looking for more volunteers. Most volunteers typically work once every 5 weeks for 2 hours. About 97% of the recyclables are rinsed and cleaned, so volunteers can easily sort them into their respective bins.
Buckley, who owns Mobile-MiniGolf, has volunteered for the KPMA since his son, who played the trombone, was a sophomore.
“It only takes a couple of hours and it’s great community service for the kids,” he said. “It’s a great way to teach the value of giving back. It’s never too early to volunteer.”
For residents with curbside pickup, no sticker is required to enter the Norfolk Transfer Station in order to donate cans and bottles.
Bottle and can donations can also be dropped off in Wrentham at the shed behind the high school, and at the Wood School shed in Plainville.