By Scott MacKeen
Staff Writer
6/25/09
Selectmen aren’t ready to move the town from a trash sticker to a trash bag program.
They said they were not convinced the switch to a bag program would reduce the volume of waste and bring in new revenue as they were told it could. Overwhelmingly negative comments from residents also factored into their decision.
“We asked for feedback and we got it,” Selectman Kathy Fagan said.
Most residents who e-mailed were opposed to the switch for a variety of reasons, Selectman Marion McEttrick said. Only one e-mailer understood why the board was considering it but was not convinced it would work, she said.
“I’ve heard every objection I can think of,” McEttrick said. “I don’t think we’ve been successful yet in making the case for such a large change.”
Selectmen Chair John Shields said his biggest concern associated with the switch was the cost. It would cost the town 24 cents apiece – more than twice what it currently pays to print stickers – to purchase a bag from the manufacturer, WasteZero.
“Our costs were going to more than double. I just wasn’t buying that,” said Shields.
He said he also worried about “losing the accounting” if the town were to go to the bag program. Currently, the Department of Public Works collects on sales of trash stickers from retailers. Under the new plan, WasteZero would have done that.
“I have no reason not to trust them, I just want to keep that accounting within the town,” Shields said.
One objection to the switch came from the environmentally conscious Sustainable Milton group. Sarah Mills, acting chair of the group, said in a letter to Selectmen that the WasteZero bags exhibited at a prior meeting did not seem “sturdy” or practical for kitchen use.
Selectmen were considering the switch to trash bags as a way of correcting some problems they are experiencing with stickers. Part of the problem is policing waste pickup practices. The program is supposed to limit a trash bag on the curb to 40 pounds, with a town sticker to identify the bag for Waste Management Inc. to pick up. However, some bags exceeding the weight limit are still being picked up by Waste Management because they have stickers, costing the town more waste per sticker sale than they have anticipated.
“We can’t continue to sustain that loss over a long period of time,” Fagan explained.
Other bags without stickers are being left for the DPW to pick up, expending limited resources, Town Administrator Kevin Mearn said. The town bags would have been brightly colored, clearly noticeable for Waste Management to pick up.
However, McEttrick said there are ways of improving upon the current sticker program, including levying small fines against Waste Management allowed under the town’s contract if the company continues picking up bags it shouldn’t.
“I think people want to know if we can improve what we have first before we go to something else,” McEttrick said.