The cost of removing our solid waste – trash and recycling, with its problematic greasy pizza boxes and the plastic windows in envelopes, is going to cost more. As the number of companies – and countries – willing to buy “clean recyclables” decreases globally, the pressure on cities and towns is increasing.
One of Mattapoisett’s solutions is attempting to educate residents on best practices for producing clean, saleable recyclable items. No easy task, indeed.
The issue of the growing mountains of recyclables being shifted from the U.S. to ports-of-call in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Pakistan is becoming more problematic and expensive. The question of how to get residents to clean up their recyclables so they can be sold is now a very real and everyday issue. Changing household habits was discussed on March 27 when the Mattapoisett Finance Committee met with Senior Board of Health Agent Dale Barrows and Health Agent Kathryn Tapper to review the department’s proposed fiscal year 2020 budget.
The agents are planning a town-wide recyclable education program to help residents better understand the importance of placing only clean, recycle-ready materials in the orange topped containers.
“But what will happen is that people will just put it in the trash bin,” Barrows said, rather than taking the time or steps to wash out jars and cans or make sure that pizza box is, in fact, grease-free.
Barrows said he anticipates a noticeable uptick in solid waste tonnage and a drop in recyclables as a direct result of more stringent patroling of what residents are tossing into the recycle containers.
“Massachusetts can’t handle our own waste,” Barrows said. “A third is shipped out of state and the further it has to go, the more it costs.” He cautioned the committee that costs associated with trash and recyclables were only going to skyrocket until such time as a solution, nationally and globally, could be achieved.
As things stand now, the FY19 budget allocated $169,176 for the negotiated recycling contract. Barrows estimates that to rise to $178,509 in FY20. Solid waste curbside pick-up will also rise by some $7,000, he noted. On the Town’s website, residents may view a presentation aimed at beginning the recycling education process at www.mattapoisett.net.
In other areas of the department, Tapper said the Board of Health wants to implement GIS mapping system capability for a cost of $1,400. Finance Committee Chairman Pat Donoghue wondered how the computer program would benefit the department.
Tapper said that other departments were currently utilizing the system to track and have immediate access to permits and other information while working in the field. Barrows added that it would be especially useful when working with property owners regarding septic systems.
Mattapoisett’s town manager, Michael Gagne, questioned a jump from $1,500 to $15,000 in the category of part-time agent leave coverage, saying to Barrows, “This is supposed to be an enterprise fund.”
Barrows said, while fees at the transfer station were in line with other towns, “Trash doesn’t pay. … We are not the Water & Sewer Department.” He continued, “We can’t just up the rates. If I get three rainy days in a row, I don’t make money.”
Tapper added that, with more homes being added to collection services, costs would rise.
Also coming before the Finance Committee were Conservation Agent Elizabeth Leidhold and Conservation Commission Chairman Mike King to discuss options for adding new fees for services provided by this department.
A study of surrounding towns demonstrated that nearly all were charging for services currently not being reimbursed in Mattapoisett. Leidhold said that request for determination of applicability applications, a review service that evaluates projects to determine the need for various permits and conditions, is currently not fee-based. Other towns are charging anywhere from $50 to $250, depending on the square-footage of the property in question.
Other fees that the Town may wish to impose would include applications for certificates of compliance, extensions of orders of conditions, site visits, wetlands delineations, permit extensions, and requests for amended orders of conditions. Currently, the only fee collected is done so in accordance with the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act.
King said that, because the Town does not have its own wetlands bylaws, it is bound by state regulations to charge only for notice of intent filings, a fee of $100 that is split 50/50 with the state.
Gagne thought differently, believing that all the town had to do was institute a bylaw for the new fees themselves, not a wetlands bylaw for which he admitted voters have not had not found palatable in the past. To that end, he said he was awaiting confirmation from town counsel that such a bylaw could be enacted. If that were the case, Gagne said there would be an article on the Annual Town Meeting Warrant asking voters to approve it in May.
The goal of collecting new fees is an effort on the part of the Town to have those Town Hall departments that provide particular services to property owners carry the cost burden associated with those services versus having the entire taxpaying base cover the costs.
According to Gagne, the Board of Selectmen favors establishing a new fee structure for Conservation Department services.
The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Finance Committee is scheduled for April 3 at 5:00 pm in the Town Hall conference room.
Mattapoisett Finance Committee
By Marilou Newell