Residents express concerns with trash carts, Gold responds

Nov. 13, 2019 | Payton North
payton@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW – Over the course of the week of Oct. 28, every home in Longmeadow received a new, free, 35-gallon wheeled trash cart. The carts were primarily funded by a grant received from MassDEP. However, in the weeks since the trash carts were received, some residents have been left displeased with the carts.

In the original statement provided by the Longmeadow DPW and the Recycling Commission, the organizations noted that the trash carts would be a black, 35-gallon wheeled cart with a lid. The carts would have the Town of Longmeadow stamped on the sides, a serial number and RFID chip. The statement stated that once the carts were distributed, trash would only be collected from the new carts with the lids completely closed. The weight limitation, as described in the Town’s trash regulations, would remain the same – 40 pounds per household. The excess trash, the statement reminded residents, must be placed in a town overflow trash (blue) bag, which can be purchased at most local retailers.

Since distribution, residents have expressed concerns. Some residents have claimed on social media that the barrels are too small. Other residents have supported the barrels, claiming their family only has one bag of trash per week – not enough to even fill the barrel.

During the interim town manager’s report at the Nov. 4 Longmeadow Select Board meeting, acting Town Manager James Moynihan discussed the trash bins. He explained one of the issues residents are facing with the carts is that in some cases they do not close all the way.

“The DPW director indicated that because it’s molded plastic, the bins will not close immediately, but if the bins are heated with a hair dryer or something similar they should close properly,” Moynihan said.

He added that residents will be receiving an automated phone call from the town to let residents know that they will be able to recycle their old bins during the week of Nov. 18.

In response to residents concerns regarding the trash carts, Longmeadow Select Board member Mark Gold submitted a statement to Reminder Publishing. The statement is as follows:

“There’s been a lot of discussion about Longmeadow’s new trash containers, and I want to respond to those who are unhappy with the decision to implement these 35-gallon containers.  I hope you’ll come away from this with an understanding, if not agreement, that our growing costs of trash disposal was something that had to be implemented.

First, some background:  The cost of disposing of Longmeadow’s trash has three components:

•$650,000 per year to pick-up the trash at each of the 5,500 residents in town and haul the trash to the disposal site.  We’re in the second year of a five-year contract with Waste Management services to provide these services.

•$293,000 (budgeted) to dispose of our trash.  We pay a different company $75 per ton to dispose of our trash.  This contract is based on competitive bidding, and the current contract was awarded to a company who hauls our trash out of the area for landfill.  The cost of disposal has increased over 33 percent in the past three years (it was $220,000 in 2017).  These costs are variable, in that the more we have to dispose, the more we pay, and the less we dispose, the less we pay.

•The balance of the $1,188,431 Sanitation / Recycling budget for 2020 consists of staff and direct costs associated with running the program, running the recycling center, paying for disposal of yard (and leaf) waste, and other expenses.  In general, these costs are not impacted by the amount of trash we generate.

The sanitation budget also has revenue of $285,000 from dumping fees, bag sales, and the sale of recycling goods (both curb-side and bulk recycling from the recycling center).  Actual curb-side recycling brings in about 10 percent of this total.  Although the curbside recycling doesn’t result in a lot of income it does avoid the $75 per ton of disposal costs. Despite what you might have read about the weakened global market for recycled goods, in Longmeadow, recycling still pays.

The information presented above is to provide background to the trash container decision. The 33 percent (over three years) increase in the cost of trash disposal is the highest increase of any component in the town’s $65 million budget. Not only is the cost per pound of trash that we dispose of going up each year, but the total number of pounds of trash has also been increasing, and the amount of material we’ve been recycling has been decreasing. Trash disposal quantities were up five percent in FY 2019 over FY 2018  (3598 tons vs. 3403 tons) and are up another six percent for the first three months of this year vs. the 2019 numbers. At the same time, recycling quantities are down. Paper and cardboard recycling is down 10 tons in 2018 compared to 2017 and glass/plastic recycling was down two percent in 2018 vs. 2017 and another four percent in 2019.

Our recycling commission identified that there are numerous town residents that have been routinely exceeding the 35-gallon weekly disposal cap that has been in place for over 10 years. There were several alternatives considered to bring our trash disposal costs into compliance with existing by-law limitations.  Most of the alternatives had a “trash enforcement” patrol in one form or another, and that just isn’t practical. Our trash haulers haven’t the time to be the enforcement group and it’s not appropriate for the police to be enforcing trash regulations.  So, in order to address the rising cost of trash disposal, the recycling commission proposed the town pursue a State of Massachusetts grants to underwrite the cost of purchasing uniform trash containers for all residents.  That grant required the containers be 35 gallons in size.  It’s the wave of the future. These 35-gallon containers will simultaneously limit the amount of trash that is disposed and encourage increased recycling.

One complaint I heard is that Springfield residents get a 55-gallon container. But Springfield residents also get charged a $90 per year supplemental trash fee.  As a select board member, I felt it was more equitable to provide a uniform 35-gallon container to every household than impose a trash fee on everyone in town. $90 per year will buy a lot of supplemental blue bags for those who dispose more than 35-gallons of trash in a week.

So I ask that you give the new containers a try.  The regulations on disposal haven’t changed; we’re just making it difficult for households to exceed that 35-gallon per week limit. We’re going to be evaluating the impact of these on our disposal costs and recycling tonnage. Based on the implementation of uniform containers in other communities, we expect this to provide the cost control for this part of our budget that’s essential for every line item.”

Share this: