Letter:  There’s A Better Way To Collect Trash That Can Save Residents Money While Helping To Save The Planet

Ouch. I just got my bill for trash hauling. 

Currently, we have a monopolistic, national hauler system in Amherst that bought up all of our beloved local haulers. It overcharges us and does little to reduce waste. It holds all the cards and is not transparent. Try looking up prices on its website. You won’t find anything. 

A Zero Waste Amherst proposal about to hit the Town Council agenda flips that paradigm to give the Town control over hauling services. The proposal asks simply to transition our current system-  where residents contract with the hauler – to a system where the town contracts with the hauler following a competitive bidding process – and includes in that contract the diverting of compostable materials from our trash. 

Towns with contracts, like South Hadley and Agawam, end up costing residents far less. Even towns that include curbside compost pick up, like Louisville, Colorado, still cost less for virtually all residents.

The proposal is simple. It’s a win, win, win proposition. The environment and climate win because by diverting compostables town-wide, it would reduce our waste by 40% and the compost would be reused. Residents win big by saving money, feeling good about reducing their waste and having a way to compost yard waste too. Communities living near landfills win by reducing the pollution caused by sending our waste to their neighborhoods. The town would win by saving money on the contract because “disposal” of compost at a compost processing facility is a lot less expensive than disposing of it at a landfill – and of course by being a Zero Waste leader. ZWA is not asking for the Town to take over waste hauling because we know that would require a new department and vehicles and staff. Instead, this would be a simple fix and a no brainer at that.

And we expect this proposal to preserve and expand our transfer station services.

Please let the Town Council know that you support this simple proposal so that we can win, win, win!

Darcy DuMont

Darcy DuMont, a former town councilor, is a founding member of Zero Waste Amherst and of Local Energy Advocates of Western MA. As a councilor, she sponsored the legislation creating the Amherst Energy and Climate Action Committee.