The Dresden Board of Selectmen raised a question Monday, June 1 about an unusual problem facing the local recycling center concerning unopened personal mail that someone had placed in the recycling bin.

Not knowing what to do with it, workers have rescued the mail and put it in a plastic bag until they decide what to do with it. The have concerns about the legality of such disposal of mail, some of it junk mail, in the center and how to dispose of it.

“We need to get a policy,” Chairman Phil Johnston said. “I’m of the opinion we should continue to dispose of it, but dispose of it properly.”

Johnston said the town may have to return such unopened mail to the local U.S. Post Office and suggested contacting the postmaster for answers to the situation.

Administrative Assistant Trudy Foss referred to retrieved mail as “stinky” since it was sitting in the single string recycling bin at the center along with other items before being brought to the town office. Foss said a worker placed it in a plastic bag and brought it there until local officials could decide what to do with it.

Foss said the mail has an out of town address; she made an attempt to locate the recipient on the envelope to no avail. She said it was possible that the addressee had moved to Dresden recently.

One of the workers from the center present at the Monday session confirmed what Foss said about the issue and the quandary workers have.

“I just want an official answer,” Johnston said. “We need to find out a simple answer and follow it.”

The Wiscasset Newspaper made an attempt to contact the corporate communications official in Boston for the U.S. Postal Service, but the representative was unavailable for comment before press time.

However, a local employee said recycling of undelivered bulk business mail and mail thrown away by customers is collected in recycling bins at the Dresden Post Office. When they are full, they are taken to the Augusta Post Office where they are compacted and the compacted paper is then picked up by a contractor for recycling and reuse.

The practice has been going on for over 20 years, the employee said.