By Cameron Kittle
Staff Writer
July 11, 2009 05:42 am MANCHESTER — Should it be yes or no to pay-as-you-throw? That's the question facing town officials in Manchester after a couple of complaints have trickled in and residents react to what would be a big change in recycling and refuse procedure. The trash bag system that was voted through by selectmen in Manchester two weeks ago will go under further discussion when selectmens meet Monday night, after actual bag prices came out to be much higher than originally projected. Town Administrator Wayne Melville said he is still looking at a Sept. 7 — Labor Day — starting date for a program he says should be more efficient and bring in more revenue for the town. But the process could be slowed "significantly," he said, now that the town has actual numbers, not estimated costs, to look at. "The bags are more expensive than we thought," Melville said, noting that each bag will cost the town 25 cents instead of the 7-cent price tag officials had expected. "But it's a program that we think could still benefit the town in the future." Melville and selectmen have confidence that the program will bring needed revenue to the town and increase recycling in these energy-conscious times. Positive results from pay-as-you-throw systems have been recorded all over the state, including in Malden, where in that city's first five months with the PAYT system in place, trash disposal was down 50 percent, recycling was up 69 percent, the city saved $326,206 in disposal costs, and generated $733,000 in gross bag revenue. Selectmen will meet Monday, prior to the evening meeting, with John Craig, the general manager of Waste Zero, a pay-as-you-throw program based in South Carolina that supplies bags and services to Gloucester, Hamilton and Wenham. Selectmen and Craig will discuss the details of the company's services and figure out if Waste Zero is right for Manchester, too. The purchase of transfer station stickers cost the town about $2,000 last year and the projected cost of the PAYT bags is more than $36,000, but Melville said the Finance Committee would likely be able to make a reserved fund transfer to come up with the additional up-front cost. The proposed bags will come in 33-gallon and 15-gallon sizes, and they would each cost $2 and $1, respectively. The estimated number of bags used by the town each year is 165,600 for 2,122 households, an average of 1.5 bags used per week per household. If those estimates pan out, the town would have $273,200 in revenue and get back more than seven times its investment. The selectmen's meeting Monday is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. upstairs in Room 5 of Town Hall. Among all other details, Melville expects the color of the PAYT bags will be a hot-button issue. "Green would be nice, but Wenham has a green," Melville said. "We're hoping the darker green would be enough (to distinguish between Manchester and Wenham), but we could do something different like orange." Cameron Kittle can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
—
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.