Town prepares for start of new trash/recycling program

Editor’s note: The start of the new automated collection system has been moved from July 1 to July 7.

On or around Tuesday, July 1, Canton residents will start to receive new trash and recycling carts as part of the town’s new automated curbside collection program.

The new service, according to selectmen, will help to make Canton a “cleaner, greener, and more sustainable community.”

“Simply put,” said selectmen in a letter sent to residents, “this new program will reduce curbside litter, will create incentives for a less costly disposal of recycling methods, and should reduce the amount of trash tonnage that we all must pay for.”

Instead of leaving multiple assorted bags and containers at the curbside, residents will now use a 64-gallon cart each week for solid trash and a 96-gallon cart every other week for recyclables.

The trash carts hold five large garbage bags and the recycling carts hold approximately seven bags of recyclable materials. Residents are urged to break down recyclables to increase cart capacity.

Residents will be able to purchase additional trash carts for $65 and additional recycling carts for $75. Town Administrator Bill Friel said residents interested in the additional carts should apply to the DPW or the selectmen’s office. He suggested that residents go through several weeks of the new service before deciding if they need an additional cart.

Negotiations between selectmen and Republic Services on a new curbside collection program originated in September but heated up over the last few months. Friel said that as part of the negotiations, selectmen were able to convince Republic Services to pick up one free bulk item per week and also pick up appliances if a reservation is made in advance.

Under the previous trash contract, the town was charged a fee by Republic Services and by SEMASS, a regional recycling consortium, based on tonnage. With the new contract beginning July 1, Friel said the town will save $27,500 and perhaps more, depending on the tonnage of recycling by residents.

“The town needed to modernize the program,” he said. “I think it positions the town well if the state goes forward with mandatory recycling regulations. We listened to a lot of resident feedback, and together with the Board of Selectmen and Republic Services, I think we have come up with an environmentally friendly, economically friendly, and prudent way to go. I think you can summarize it as free and enhanced trash and recycling services.”

Other notes from the new trash/recycling program

* The 64-gallon trash cart (blue base/blue lid) will be used from July 1 onward. Residents who move are urged to leave the new carts for the new residents. Otherwise, there will be a fee to replace them issued to the vacated homeowners. Republic Services will pick up residents’ old trash barrels as well as the blue recycling bins on route during the first two weeks of the new program.

* The truck’s lifting arm will require clearance of two to three feet on both sides and 12 feet overhead. Republic Services said the cart should not be more than three feet away from the curb or road edge. The arrow on the cart lid should be pointed toward the street. On the weeks when trash and recycling are collected, there should be three feet between the trash cart, recycling cart, and any bulk items. All lids should be closed at all times. The truck will not pick up any bags, extraneous trash, or take trash from any other container.

* The current service at the compost site on Pine Street remains the same for yard waste, which is defined as leaves, grass clippings, shrub trimmings, plant cuttings, wood waste, and trees (less than one inch in diameter). Non-acceptable items include dirt, sand, sod, rocks, stumps, or trunks.

* Residents will be allowed to put out one bulk item each week. Bulk items include furniture and other large items that cannot be broken down. If there is more than one item, a reservation must be placed 72 hours in advance by calling 1-800-222-5158. The items should be set three feet apart from the trash and recycling carts. Drop-off service for bulk items will also be available (location TBA).

* The use of single stream recycling means that there is no need to separate recyclable materials on collection day. Recyclables include aluminum, tin cans, aerosol cans, milk and juice cartons, soymilk boxes, glass jars and bottles, plastic containers, paper books, telephone books, flattened cardboard boxes, newspapers, magazines, and catalogues.

* Do not recycle the following: Styrofoam, ceramics or dishes, food waste, plastic grocery bags, motor oil containers, hazardous waste containers, light bulbs, window glass, or mirrors. Either place these items in the blue trash cart or use other acceptable disposal methods. Electronics (computers, radios, televisions) should be dropped off at the Bolivar Street garage.

* Trash/recycling carts must be placed on the curbside by 7 a.m. on the designated pickup day. Collection days will remain the same as currently scheduled. The recycle schedule can be found at www.town.canton.ma.us.

Selectmen Chairman Sal Salvatori said the new service is “better for the town because it contains costs and encourages recycling.”

“More recycling equals less solid waste and less disposal costs,” he said. “Lastly, we do get complaints about the current system where some folks put their trash out curbside in bags, some of which gets torn open by animals; some folks don’t like seeing a hodgepodge of different barrels along the street; some folks don’t like seeing damaged barrels along the street; some folks don’t like it when residents use small barrels and therefore have many barrels out at curbside each week; [and] some folks don’t like it when barrel lids are strewn on the sidewalks and streets.

“So in the end, the BOS has worked very hard, carefully examined a multitude of options and ideas, and weighed through a considerable amount of resident feedback so that other than the barrels, the average resident should see essentially no change in service.”

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Posted by Mike Berger on May 22 2014. Filed under News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.