Gloucester's Pay-As-You-Throw trash system, purple "Barney bags" and all, seems to be achieving the desired results: People are throwing less, and paying less while recycling more.
That is the case on both the individual and community level. Public Works Director Michael Hale reports that during the first two months of the new system, recycling collections increased 13 percent, while trash collection dropped 29 percent.
That sounds like a win for local families, who pay for trash based on the number of purple bags they fill.
It is also a win for the city, which pays a per-ton fee for trash hauled to the incinerator. And it is a win for the environment, since more trash is being recycled while less is being burned.
On top of all that, however, is yet another win.
After the city's 10-year contract for waste disposal with Waste Management expires at the end of June, a local contractor, Hiltz Disposal, will take over. The city awarded a 5-year contract to Hiltz with an option to renew for two more years that is expected to save the city $300,000 to $500,000 annually. The most significant savings is in the 23 percent drop in the price per ton, from $89 to $69.
Besides that, Hiltz will be providing more services, including recycling collection weekly instead of biweekly, emptying of the 62 trash barrels in the downtown seven days a week during the summer and a week of leaf and yard waste collection in the spring added to the week in the fall.
The system is not perfect — some residents have complained bitterly about the new bags, which replaced a sticker system that city officials said was too vulnerable to fraud. Complaints range from the size and shape of the bags to their color and their incompatibility with barrels.
But in general, the system is moving in the right direction, saving money and sending less trash to landfills. And while $300,000 to $500,000 a year will not cure the city's financial woes, it is a vast improvement over the typical annual increases to run every department.
That, in a time with very little good economic news, is worth celebrating.
