Moss Kahler has served as recycling coordinator in Brattleboro.
BRATTLEBORO-The Selectboard members are facing difficult budget choices, and finding ways to reduce the budget without cutting services or personnel will be a challenge, to say the least.
The new solid waste contract with Casella is one of the driving forces in the budget increase. I have some suggestions to soften the blow for that particular line item.
The former contract and methodology with Triple-T that included pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) and curbside pickup of organic waste was uniquely effective. It was effective in reducing the amount of waste that was landfilled. It increased the tonnage of recyclables, kept methane-producing organics out of the landfill, created valuable compost, and the sale of PAYT bags brought substantial revenues that offset the landfill tipping fees. It was easy to enforce by simply not picking up trash that was not in a PAYT-purchased bag.
That system was carefully and methodically introduced to Brattleboro residents. It created very little pushback and is now fully embraced.
The new contract and methodology (i.e., mechanized collection) with Casella threatens to destroy what the town has created and what many say was the envy of many other New England towns.
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How will the new contract impact the current collection system?
Very simply, with trash bags contained curbside in a large tote with a closed, hinged lid, the driver will not be able to easily inspect the contents of the tote until it is dumped in the truck. And once it is in the truck, it would not be practical to remove non-PAYT bags and return them to the curb, so there is no way to effectively refuse to collect the non-PAYT bag.
Many Brattleboro residents will be quite aware of this difficulty of enforcement and, human nature being what it is, they will collectively discard significant amounts of organics, recyclables, and items that currently are not accepted curbside unless they can be contained in the PAYT bag.
This will effectively obliterate all the tangible benefits of the current collection system - residents will not purchase the PAYT bags, which will result in significant revenue loss; it will result in a pronounced increase in solid waste that gets landfilled, with a corresponding increase in tipping fees.
Many residents will revert to the simple "everything goes in one bag" and cease separating their organic waste. This will not only increase tipping fees, but more importantly, it will lead to an increase in methane released into the atmosphere - a gas that state law is striving to eradicate.
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The solution to this conundrum that mechanized collection creates, while not painless, is simple - enforce PAYT. The universal use of PAYT bags is what drives our current collection system. Enforcement is the only tool we have to achieve full participation.
I have what I believe is a workable solution. It is modeled on the enforcement program the town undertook about 15 years ago, when our residents had slipped significantly in their recycling practices. After only two or three months of diligent enforcement of our recycling rules, tonnage and quality of recyclables increased dramatically, and the tonnage of solid waste dropped.
Such enforcement will require that Casella's management and drivers embrace the goal of full PAYT participation. A carefully created and implemented plan will ensure success.
We've done it before, and with most of our residents already doing a great job of reducing waste by separating organics and recycling conscientiously, I believe we can keep this solid waste line item in our budget to as low a number as possible.
I have some ideas how to achieve this and direct experience that I would be happy to share with the Selectboard and the town.
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