Republic Services to follow Waste Reduction Program closely

Nov. 28, 2018 | Payton North
payton@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW – East Longmeadow’s Director of Public Health Aimee Petrosky and Recycling Coordinator Elizabeth Bone maintain that residents should by now be aware through the towns many social media and press efforts that from Nov. 28 forward, the towns contracted waste service, Republic Services, will no longer pick up waste that violates the towns Waste Reduction Program.

In 2008 the town of East Longmeadow created a Waste Reduction Program in an effort to keep the growing costs of waste removal at bay. This program stated that each home in East Longmeadow is allowed to have one 35–gallon container of waste removed by Republic Services each week. Should the resident have more trash, it can still be picked up and disposed of if placed in the 33–gallon green trash bags which are sold at local retailers as well as the Town Hall. Said bags cost $1.75 each or $8.75 for five. Petrosky told Reminder Publishing that other area towns have adopted a similar program.

“It’s really been a process since last December,” Petrosky said, noting the problems that had occurred at the end of 2017 with Republic not picking up the towns trash. “It was a problem.”

Petrosky continued to explain that if Republic simply picked up any amount of trash residents left on the curb that was over the contracted limit, this leads the company having to empty their trash trucks more often. The more waste left out by residents leads to more time spent emptying trucks, and subsequently less time Republic is able to spend picking up waste from residents. This can lead to the company falling behind as well as pick–up delays.

“In order to hold them [Republic] accountable, we have to follow that limit,” she noted. In response to the increasing waste disposal costs, the Town is making an attempt to hold residents accountable to the Waste Reduction Program.

“We had an intern in the summer that looked at the size of barrels on a couple of our routes and they’re much larger than the 35–gallon limit,” Petrosky explained.

Over the past two months residents who were in violation of the Waste Reduction Program may have noticed tags sitting on their trash barrels explaining why their waste was not removed. Violations could include overflowing barrels or there was recycling in the trash. Following the tagging, residents should have then received a letter in the mail from the Health Department reiterating the violation that their waste made.

“We feel like we’ve done our due diligence in educating residents and the importance of the limit,” Petrosky said. “People with concerns or questions should feel free to contact the Health Department. We understand there’s frustration around this. Once we get to the other side of this, we’ll have a much better trash pickup service.”

The East Longmeadow Health Department can be reached at 525–5400 ext. 1103.

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