HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/28/2015 00 Misc Distributed at the Meeting ■
Distributed at the
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Plymouth, Mass•, Wrestles With Tay-As-You-Throw' Trash Fees
BY ROBERT TOMSHO enforcement families. Others maintained that the
Plymouth, Mass. Tampering with that notion can be For a flat annual fee that has been town's aging transfer stations were al-
tricky in communities that switch to rising steadil\ to S140 a household ready plagued by traffic backups on
I
N THIS HISTORIC community that PAYT. Illegal dumping has cropped up ($65 for senior citizens) Plymouth resi- weekends.
calls itself "America's Hometown," in about 20% of such communities, ac- dents can still bring all the trash they At a March 18 meeting of the select
garbage has become such a touchy cording to a 2006 U.S. Environmental want to one of three transfer stations. men, retiree Larry Fava gave a slide
subject that Richard Quintal is Protection Agency report. Local offi- Because Plymouth s own landfills were show outlining his concerns. Active in to
tired of talking about it. cials also complain about variations of capped years ago. trash is then con cal civic affairs for years. Mr Fava says
During months of debate, Mr. Quin- the so- called Seattle stomp (named af- patted and shipped to an incinerator that, at the very least, the torn needs to
tal, chairman of the town's governing ter one of the first PAYT cities), where 20 miles away spend more time planning. But he also
board of selectmen, argued that people homeowners try to beat the system by Last year, Plymouth hauled about fears that PAYT will prompt residents to
who throw out more trash should pay compacting huge amounts of trash into burn trash in their fireplaces and dump'
15
higher disposal bills. "I got emails from single 15,800 tons of waste to the incinerator
which, under a long-term contract it i
a sin le can or bag. llegally. `I don't want all this stuff 1y
people saying they thought I was right," There has also been a recent backlash signed in 1994, charges the town a ing in the woods," he says. "°
he says. "But there were just as many 1 . '
Y in some locales over costs and inconve- A week after Mr Fava
gain to ts-
from those who thought I was as
idiot." $23 -a -ton tipping fee Driven by in-
nience, prompting Philadelphia, Spring- creased energy and pollution control ahea wi
d the selectmen voted again to go l
Like Plymouth, more and more corn- away from proposals. field, Mass., and other cities to back costs, the ti ahea PAYT b3 -the That majority
in y >
munities are grappling with whether to Aping fees for other towns vor of it slipped to 3 -2. That maority
abandon t are gra garbage with teethe and "Pay -as- you -throw have risen sharply in recent years. ME
in this community did not go over very When Plymouth's contract expires of delaying PAYT's d in May, la u u hen a proponent
adopt so-called pay -as -you -throw sys- Y Aires in six of delaying nch won a seat ME
well," says Azell Muirphy Cavaan a years, With PAYT. residents are charged town officials expect to pay $90 on the board in a municipal election
based on how much spokeswoman for the city of Springfield. a ton, or more. where the garbage issue p figured promi-
EM
ENVIRONMENT garbage they much Supporters of PAYT say it gives resi- After hearing a report in November nently. John Mahoney. the new select - ME
ate. often by being dents a direct economic incentive to re that warned of the higher prices to man, says he isn't against the theory of
required to buy special bags, tags being Skumatz Economic Research Asso- come, Plymouth's board of selectmen PAYT but wants to make sure the town
ME
cans for their trash. Separated recycla cittes, a waste consulting concern in Su- voted 5-0 to switch to PAYT. Roger Ham- does it right.
bier like glass and cardboard are usually perior, Colo., estimates that PAYT pro- mond, the town's' public -works director, With hundreds of cases of purple
reduction in the says the idea was to decrease the ton-
hauled away free or at minimal cost. 17% PAYT bags already on order, the recon
grams lead to a 17
After decades of environmental bat- flow of residential waste to incinerators gage going to the incinerator and stituted board voted last month to hold
ME ties over landfills and incinerators— and landfills, where communities pay change residents' trash habits well in off on overhauling the town's garbage
both potential sources of emissions and by- the -ton "tipping" fees to leave their advance of the higher tipping fees. system for at least another year. EM
pollution—PAYT potential sources
represents an effort to garbage behind. "Every analysis shows Under the Plymouth system, the Mr. Hammond, the public works di ME
curb garbage's impact on the ecosystem that this is a very cost - effective thing town would still handle recyclables rector, says the garbage debate has been
'
l
f lot "A l
ener
eye opener. e
to do," says Lisa Skumatz, the firm's yp. o o people don't
by pressuring consumers to create less Y such as plastic and yard waste free, but ;
principal. want to recycle," he says. "They just "
of it. But the effort to make people trash would be accepted at the transfer
change their habits has often stirred The EPA said that about 7,100 cities stations only in special purple plastic want to throw everything in the bin." ME
tension, raising the question whether and towns were using PAYT in 2006, up bags purchased at local merchants for
the bill for a cleaner environment from 5,200 in 2001. Industry observers '
believe those numbers have ex up to $1.25 each, depending on size. •
should be paid collectively or individu
and will grow further as soaring fuel sales, and residents would also pay a A Mountain of Trash panded, The town would get a cut of the bag k ' r�
ally, according to how much pollution ® m ®I
you produce. costs push up the price of garbage col- $65 annual fee, with the amount re- ,
While Americans are accustomed to lection and disposal. duced to $40 for seniors. In 2006, Americans generated about MENEM
paying for
on like w a t t rue about Forced to import much
came ashore The system was supposed to go into
recycled m i lli or composted 132.5tial trash, and 4 and elec-
needed, the Pilgrims g ®-4a
at Plymouth effect July 1, but the grumbling began On per - person basis, that came to ® ®® I
garbage in most places. About three- Y outh in 1620 were relentless re- almost as soon as details were an-
quarters of the nation's households still cyclers, throwing what little garbage flounced this year While few Plymouth 4.6 pounds of t a shy, wi ® ®®
1.5 pounds of th
have unlimited disposal service. In some they produced into their privy pits and residents spoke out against the concept at trash recycled. MMIMMIIM
communities, they pay a flat annual fee. eventually burying it. "ht some ways, of recycling, there was criticism aplenty Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
In others, local property taxes cover the we wish they did have more trash, be- for the plan designed to pressure them Each block equals one ® ® ®®
tab so residents aren't aware of the cause we'd dig it up and put it on dis- to do more of it in a hurry. million tons 11111111111MMN
®® cost, making the service seem free. play," says Peg Baker, director of Ply- At public meetings, senior citizens municipal solid waste,
Ever since Benjamin Franklin started mouth's Pilgrim Hall Museum. complained that, even with the reduced 2006 data, rounded ®®®®®®® 6
a municipal service to clean the filth- These days, the town of 58,000 recy- annual fee, their personal disposal 1111111111111111111111MMI
strewn streets of Philadelphia in the ties only about 14% of its solid waste. costs would go up. Some critics said the
1750s, most Americans have viewed gar- That's less than half the national rate new trash plan would be unfair to big Recovered trash ®®®®
bage service more like police protec- and well below the 40% average for the Unrecovered trash MINIIIIIIIMIN IN in ppm
tion. "If you get burglarized, you don't 123 Massachusetts towns and cities
pay extra," says William Rathje, a re- that have adopted PAYT Massachusetts WSJ•tortn a �S � o F ,�eS ,c,6 r ob 4, ,,5 o a ,, ,,
tired Stanford archaeologist who has law already bars communities from ,. ScQ��ccO�2S o ` \e ^ ��` �'= ` °o \c ,\ „'-:`
\_` ,&- _ s.
studied trash for years "Garbage ser- sending recyclables to landfills and in - v o f._,tl ie' DaY 5fiould people who �o° P c
vice became like a human right, be- cinerators, but state and local officials
throw=outmore -trash pay'hidher disposal .,c ,(:: 0c`� r o`
cause it was to protect you '' ;a. -'e, .ac'.• *tie ^,ar.pot.e- for strict bills? Weigh,in MA
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