Public Comment: It’s Time to Move Forward with Waste Hauler Reform

The following public comment was prepared for the meeting of the Town Services and Outreach Committee (TSO), scheduled for May 16. That meeting was cancelled and the comment was submitted in writing.

I hear that today’s TSO meeting has been cancelled.  We understood that the committee would be looking at the Request for Information (RFI) responses from three local haulers that came in last October.

On behalf of Zero Waste Amherst and the many groups advocating for the waste hauler bylaw, I request that TSO move the proposal forward. It’s been in the TSO Committee going on two years. You now know that at least three haulers are interested in the possibility of bidding on a contract with the town. This is an initiative in town that is supported by folks across the political spectrum.

The council doesn’t have to get into the details of what a program would look like. That’s why we have Board of Health (BOH) regulations. The bylaw proposal before you simply asks four questions:

1. Does the town want to move to a hauler contract, with a competitive bidding process?
2. Do we want to add to the contract a proportional pay as you throw billing structure, proven to reduce waste dramatically?
3. Do we want to add to the contract the provision of curbside compost pick up, also proven to reduce waste dramatically?
4. Do we want to phase the program in, with 1-4 family houses receiving the service first and apartment complexes, businesses and homeowner associations coming later?

That’s it. Those four questions. Our bylaw is very general and the BOH regs would include the details of how it could be done.

The answer that has evaded us for a few years now is how much the administrative costs would be for such a program. Although we have not heard a number from staff, Zero Waste Amherst has estimated that it would require .15 FTE in accounting (for billing) and .15 FTE at DPW (for contract compliance). It would be simple for the town to confirm these numbers by looking at and talking to towns that have comparable contracts and that bill residents (of which there are many).

The BOH has repeatedly urged the Council to move forward. The Town Manager goals also include moving forward on this very reasonable and resident-favored initiative.

And recently, it has been reported that the amount of methane released from landfills is much greater than previously reported and is a major cause of climate change.

Please, no more delay. On behalf of Zero Waste Amherst and all the groups who have endorsed the proposal, please act favorably and soon, to reduce our waste significantly.

Darcy DuMont is a former town councilor and sponsor of the legislation creating the Amherst Energy and Climate Action Committee. She is a founding member of Zero Waste Amherst, Local Energy Advocates of Western MA, and the Amherst Climate Justice Alliance and a non-voting member of Valley Green Energy Working Group. She can be contacted at dumint140@gmail.com.