Waste Reduction Bylaw Vote Delayed as Hauler Attempts to Organize Landlord Resistance
Photo: USA Waste and Recycling
The Town Council vote on whether to recommend that the Town Manager issue an exploratory Request for Proposals (RFP) from local haulers to get more information about potential cost or savings from implementing the Waste Reduction Bylaw Proposal, has been delayed from August 19 to the September 9 Town Council meeting. The Bylaw would require a town contract, obtained through a competitive bidding process, that would include a Pay As You Throw fee structure and curbside compost pick up. According to Zero Waste Amherst, a community sponsor of the proposal, the new bylaw would significantly reduce local trash and save residents money. The RFP is needed in order to evaluate the costs of the proposal. See recent Indy coverage.
Meanwhile, former Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg, who is working as a lobbyist for USA Waste and Recycling, the sole company in Amherst licensed to provide residential trash and recycling pick up, recently met with the Amherst Landlord Association Board of Directors, about the bylaw. The Board of Directors then alerted its members to request delay of action on the bylaw, at least until after they are able to do more outreach to their members. The group is particularly concerned about the cost and administrative impacts of the program on landlords.
The Town Council action scheduled on September 9, however, is not to adopt the bylaw. It is to recommend that the Town Manager issue an RFP to local haulers to get cost information about the proposal implementation. And the plan as stated by the Town Services and Outreach Committee is for the Town to conduct outreach in the fall in order to get input from the community.
For more information, see the Zero Waste Amherst website.
Residents can support the Town Council acting to move the waste hauler bylaw forward by emailing them at: https://www.amherstma.gov/councilcomments.
This is ridiculous. It has taken forever to get the Town Council to make ANY forward progress on this (years!) and it gets delayed again while a former elected, now paid lobbyist for a company with an interest in not allowing even an RFP for cost information tries to organize landlords to block it? I hope town councilors, who are supposed to be representing Amherst residents, push back hard and demand a public explanation from the council president and then vote to move this forward at their next meeting without any further foot dragging.
I thought the point of this was to streamline trash removal. Instead it increases the large numbers of commercial diesel powered vehicles, which produce environmental noise and traffic vs. Residents using vehicles they already own to transport trash to the transfer station. More traffic, more diesel emissions, more environmental noise. Another case of the cure being worse than the illness.
The USA vehicles are not diesel powered. Their drivers do already drive at least two automated trucks weekly down your residential street – twice each – since the automated trucks need to do each side of the street separately. With a town contract, obtained through a competitive bidding process, we can have more control over our current routes. “The cure” will decrease our waste SIGNIFICANTLY and can decrease emissions and noise too. And the Transfer Station will remain as an option for those who love it. This is the kind of thing that some folks will resist at first but then will start loving it.
One thing at a time, all steps toward an even better program. Results? no slaking of this 1 man’s frustration. Decades in movement toward best practices. but stonewalling by some town officials. On the note above, does anyone expect different from Amherst’s businesses? Pluses? each step is toward this positive end. If we can have a service thru vendor (with reports on data to the city as our transfer station does now as part of the contract) we can have good estimates of what it will cost the city when taking over in several yrs.This contractor must supply full service (composting, recycling, different sized bins, customer education, pay-as-you-throw- i.e. increased cost for increased ‘trash’ @ a home) and hopefully no more burning in OH or burying in Finger Lakes region. Customer education must include disincentives at the multi-family sites (the other side of education is enforcement – wake up the students and other residents of 1/2 our population/the dwelling units not in single family houses).
As far as business complaints, the city reached Green City status years ago. This allows them to call in the free consultants changing the Commonwealth’s dumps to transfer stations, developing state-wide textile recycling (clothing, rugs, etc) and much more (CET). Entire blocks in Amherst (just one way to organize it, share/lower costs) could share compactors, box palletizers, removable composting containers, etc. Right now home owners pay the larger of the fees compared to business.
Fear not, a business will seek, “at all costs”, to lower its costs – in doing business. The opposite of a city. With the necessary citizen watchdog we can continue toward best practice and eventually have the town run a program, much like insurance, where everyone chips in and the heavier users subsidize the non or light users. Choice is a good thing.
Can someone help me understand why moving compost/biodegradable waste, from a house that has space for landscaping debris/compost section, how that will REDUCE the carbon footprint. Especially when it needs to be hauled North to Greenfield, or another community, either daily or weekly.
I am sorry that I don’t see why this wouldn’t have already reached “zero waste” for this particular task. There must be something that I am over looking but that doesn’t seem to be good use of resources?
Also, have we explored the success of other communities nearby that have municipal waste management like South Hadley, or Chicopee? Our community may be different because of our turnover, so I see a challenge that we have 25% of our residents changing on an annual basis, will we be able to implement a system that is easy enough for residents who are only renting one, or two years at a time?
I admit, I have seen very little information from “Zero Waste Amherst” (ZWA), but what I have seen does not persuade me that there is necessarily a better way, especially around moving compost from a specific location on a parcel where it can break down on its own, to haul it 15 miles away?
I would just like to point out that Mr. Crossman works at Kamin’s Real Estate and is owner/operator of Crossman Properties.
Industrial scale composting facilities take more types of compostable materials than are typically put in backyard compost piles and they produce only minimal methane emissions. Thus, they are better for the climate.
Martin’s Farm, an industrial scale compost facility in Greenfield, takes food scraps (including meat, bones, eggs) PLUS yard waste, compostable take out containers, and dirty paper such as used paper plates and napkins. In a college town where we have a glut of restaurants serving take out, this is very important.
Unless we put the work into regularly aerating (turning) our backyard compost, and paying attention to the mix of greens and browns, it produces methane emissions. And most backyard composters don’t include meat, fish, dairy, eggs etc that will attract animals. Those items are going to a landfill.
Martin’s Farm has special equipment for breaking down compostables like meat, dairy, and fish scraps.
These pieces of equipment ensure that all items reach more ideal composting conditions. Organics are screened beforehand, and large items or non-organics are removed. The leftover bits are thus more manageable for the microbes to naturally break everything down further.
Martin’s Farm aerates the compost by continually moving the “windrows”.
They monitor and control temperature, moisture, and airflow to encourage bacterial activity. The heat involved kills dangerous bacteria as well.
I highly recommend watching this inspiring video about the Martin’s Farm operation. https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&sca_esv=ad3cebe3ffb4734a&rls=en&q=martins+farm&tbm=vid&source=lnms&fbs=AEQNm0Do4mQ_iNuvMb8tSM7GyIgpWGSY1QZPN8CE5R0j9A14QEvt1rxBq1mfhLD_ii-TQ5SCxDQmtaKdLbx3bc94y7F_R0Foh0h4k74RMKyysmPbpFnZWS5P4XXrU-7bvM71_aPw6x6IYMLBiTyRsOCp67RFNtqidLQXmCXUqrHqwvJdoqUZWhGX8YbR19BhEN9jB_JliBWoIA76tyhRMIZiofB_iz41ug&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_sMOBzYKIAxWAhIkEHW7kIAwQ0pQJegQIGRAB&biw=1440&bih=797&dpr=2#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8ca410f0,vid:gLeyWuG40Ko,st:0
I think muncipal garbage and compost collection is established and working well in many communities. I welcome it. This young generation is extremely aware and supportive of efforts to reduce carbon emissions — they are facing the consequences of our mistakes in ignoring climate change for 4 decades. I think landlords could help with implementation by informing and talking with tenants about composting procedures–and them making sure that they are being followed.
I hope that the Amherst Landlords Association would do less naysaying and help get out in front of energy reductions. There is a lot of state and federal money available for installing solar panels on buildings and over parking lots, insulation, switching to heat pumps, electric water heaters, etc. Even painting a commercial roof white goes a long way in reducing air conditioning and reflecting heat. The Amherst Landlords Association could collect information and send it out to rental property owners, perhaps even hold some live sessions with local companies to get the word out and answer questions. We need to work together, not against each other.
I appreciate the feedback from both of you, thank you for the response.
Hi Darcy, as you highlighted, I am approaching this from the lens of a homeowner and property manager. We do have an enormous responsibility in the community for providing shelter for the residents who come to our town for the various reasons including raising a family, retirement, academics or the life that Amherst and the pioneer valley offers.
I do not necessarily think that I am a naysayer for “Zero Waste” but I am just asking questions so I can better understanding what is being proposed, and how some of these techniques would be an improvement the current model. I don’t know if there has been outreach to the “Amherst Landlords Association”, or Public discussion, to communicate what efforts are being made with this program. In a town with 10,000+ homes/units, and there is an organization involved in 5,500+ plus homes/units, I believe there should probably be some sort of open lines of communication since we are going to be asked to relay the information to the new residents on an annual basis. I am very curious how this program will reduce waste by 40%+/-.
Sometimes it is forgotten that we, property managers/landlords, have to manage resources every day, which includes waste management, among other things like maintenance and repairs. I also think that people might be confused that we have the luxury of time to collect all of the data you are looking for. We have to be very mindful of energy use and appropriate building materials on a daily basis, so we might have some good feedback to some of these other processes as well. I am sorry if there is already a landlord or professional waste management person in your group, I am unclear who is in the group since the ZWA website seems to have some information but maybe not all of the information.
Part of my response is outreach to get a better understanding of what is happening in the private meetings with ZWA. Does ZWA have any representatives in their group that is a waste management professional?
Thanks for listening to my perspective and I admit that I rushed this response because I only have limited time to discuss this matter. Hopefully my perspective helps add substance to the conversation around the intention in the program, which we all agree is a great intention.
Cheers.
“Hi Darcy, as you highlighted, I am approaching this from the lens of a homeowner and property manager. We do have an enormous responsibility in the community for providing shelter for the residents who come to our town for the various reasons including raising a family, retirement, academics or the life that Amherst and the pioneer valley offers.”
Okay, I’m confused, how is it the enormous responsibility of a homeowner or a property manager, even if he/she the property owner (a number of which live outside of Amherst) to do what you have stated?