Letter: If You Care About Climate Change, Please Tell Town Council to Adopt the Waste Hauler Proposal
Photo: Watertown-MA.gov
The waste hauler bylaw proposal is finally coming back to the Town Council on August 19 for a vote on getting cost information from local haulers. Please email the Town Council and Town Manager to urge their support on this initiative.
https://www.amherstma.gov/councilcomments
Last month, the Town Services and Outreach Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Manager issue a Request for Proposals to local haulers to find out the cost of possible alternate programs, so that we can move forward with analyzing the proposal. Now we need the majority of the council to support that recommendation. The original bylaw proposal is supported by a wide swath of Amherst organizations and residents. We now need to urge Town Councilors and the Town Manager to support getting cost information from local haulers. The cost information acquired, through this Request for Proposal (RFP) process is informational and will not commit the town to accepting any bids.
Zero waste is a top priority for climate action because of the huge amount of raw materials and energy used to produce the stuff we consume and because landfill methane is a major contributor to climate change.
The Elements of the Waste Reduction Bylaw proposal are:
- A town contract with a hauler, gained through a competitive bidding process(thus bringing down costs to residents). Losing this element would be a deal breaker, because it would forfeit the ability to gain the other elements and their significant waste and cost reduction potential
- A pay-as-you-throw fee structure, incentivizing waste reduction (using either cart size or bags to gauge how much trash a household is creating)
- Town-wide curbside compostable materials collection at least for those not using transfer station services
- Local processing and use of compostable materials
- A phasing in of the proposal, with 1-4 family housing units first, followed by homeowners associations, apartment complexes, and businesses
TSO also added the following requests:
- Annual reporting of waste data
- Retention of the Transfer Station
Read the full draft bylaw here.
Thanks very much!
The Zero Waste Amherst Hauler Reform Team
Zero Waste Amherst is a volunteer committee of residents committed to the goal of achieving zero waste goals in Amherst
Background and Update on Hauler Reform in Amherst
The following is an update for endorsers and supporters on the Amherst proposal to reduce our waste by at least 40% by providing town-contracted waste hauling services, including universal curbside compost pick up. Please share with your groups or committees.
Town Council Action
In August 2022, the Town Council referred the proposal to the Town Services and Outreach Committee (TSO) to discuss and provide a recommendation back to the Council. The three Councilor sponsors (Jennifer Taub (District 4), Ellisha Walker (at large), Andy Steinberg (at large) have led some discussions and the town has received the answers from local haulers to a Request for Information from local haulers to get an idea about their interest. Three haulers responded.
In December 2022 and 23, the Town Council added this proposal as a climate action priority in the 2023 Town Manager goals.
Board of Health Action
The Board of Health voted to urge the Town Council to ascertain how to move forward with the original proposal in January of 2022, and sent a reminder to the council urging movement forward in June of 2022 and June of 2023.
Town Manager Action
The Town obtained a Technical Assistance grant from the Department of Environmental Protection to work with our local Municipal Assistance Coordinator, Susan Waite on preparing a Request for Information (RFI) from haulers. The DEP grant was awarded on November 10, 2022 and an RFI was finally issued on September 13, 2023 with a requested return date on October 5, 2023. The Town Manager shared the information with the Council in June of 2024.
ZWA Action
ZWA surveyed over 500 residents about the proposal, and provided a presentation to the TSO on April 19, 2023. The Survey is presentation and findings are here.
Organizing a Sustainable Neighborhood Program: ZWA signed up over 80 residents who volunteered to do education and outreach when the program is adopted (it was scheduled to be in place for summer 2023)
ZWA has hosted two visits to Martin’s Farm Compost Processing Facility in Greenfield. Councilor sponsors, Jennifer Taub and Ellisha Walker, and our DEP Municipal Assistance Coordinator, Susan Waite attended one of them. Martin’s is one of only a few industrial scale composting facilities in Massachusetts that processes solid food scraps, yard waste and other compostable materials. The cost to “tip” or dispose of compost there is approximately half of what it costs to dispose of trash.
As Community sponsors of the legislation, ZWA has not had meaningful participation in the process. Our representatives have not been allowed to meet with staff or DEP personnel and are not included in sponsor meetings.
USA Waste Recycling Action
Prior to the presentation of the ZWA Survey of residents on April 19, 2023, USA Waste and Recycling retained for Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg to speak with Amherst town staff and individual Town Councilors. Rosenberg and the USA leadership met individually with councilors at the Boltwood Inn. Rosenberg also suggested that USA have a “seat at the table” in formulating any RFP and made proposals to staff regarding same. This was done at the same time the town was formulating an RFI to go out to haulers generally.
USA leadership spoke with Zero Waste Amherst members before the presentation and confirmed the cost numbers for USA services provided in the survey.
The Louisville Colorado Model
ZWA is especially interested in the Louisville, Colorado model of providing services which includes both curbside compost pick through a contract with a national hauler and a pay as you throw incentive to reduce waste by using a smaller cart.
Louisville sample bill (with water bill)
More Resources
Results of a National Survey on Municipal Food Waste Disposal (Biocycle 2023)
Zero Waste Amherst FAQ
Further resources and background
Please email the Council to support this proposal. Its implementation would SIGNIFICANTLY (more than 40%) reduce our trash by diverting the food waste to the compost bin and by financially incentivizing folks through a pay as you throw system. It would reduce air pollution especially in climate justice communities. It will help us accomplish our climate action goals. (Landfill methane has just been shown to be a major contributor to climate change.) And it will save residents money! It’s a win – win – win – win kind of proposal.
If we adopt the proposed waste hauler bylaw we will be joining a national movement of communities working purposefully to protect the environment through shrinking the waste stream. And we’ll likely save residents some money on trash disposal costs as well. Check out what other communities are doing, including the growing trend to adopt municipal composting, in this national survey, posted in the Indy a couple of weeks ago.
https://www.amherstindy.org/2024/07/26/biocycle-nationwide-survey-residential-food-waste-collection-in-the-united-states-part-ii/
It’s time to move this initiative forward. Please let Town Councilors know that you support the town getting proposals and ask them to vote for it on August 19.
Hello, Amherst Town Councilors and Manager
I hope you will adopt the Waste Hauler Proposal.
I support it for all the same reasons many others do.
Sincerely,
Ira Bryck
Yes, let’s make this happen! It’s long overdue and seems like a no brainer!
As a former member of the Town of Amherst Recycling and Refuse Management Committee, I also wholeheartedly endorse the ZWA hauler reform proposal. Our 2016 Solid Waste Master Plan strongly recommended both recycling of organics and a pay as you throw fee structure in order to reduce costs to residents, create compost locally, protect the environment, and safeguard our health.
USA Waste and Recycling has had a monopoly for residential waste and recycling, and prices have steadily increased. It’s time for the town to end this price gouging and take responsibility for our waste management.
Environmental justice is another major reason to support this bylaw. Incinerators and landfills are typically sited near marginalized communities, with major impacts to the health and well-being of people who live in these neighborhoods.
When municipalities transition to separation of organics (kitchen scraps, yard clippings, non-recyclable paper products, etc.), people feel good about doing the right thing environmentally and are also relieved that they no longer have to put up with rotting and smelly food scraps in their trash. The west coast is way ahead of us on separation of organics from the waste stream, which is now mandatory in the entire state of California.
Also, waste is quickly reduced by 40% in municipalities where pay as you throw has been enacted, resulting in significant cost savings while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants.
We can do this!
On July 13th, I sent this letter to Town Council.
The Zero Waste Amherst group is the community sponsor of the very delayed Waste Hauler Bylaw Proposal and we appreciate it is finally moving forward. The Amherst Town Council will hear about new progress on the proposal at its Monday, August 19 meeting and we write in support of the full council vote in August to allow the Manager to get the cost of implementation by issuing an RFP to local haulers. This should be done promptly, even earlier, effectively and with all the awareness that time is of the essence to improve the waste system in town. One small action for the community is one big action for the planet. This vote may be a make or break moment for the proposal.
Zero Waste Amherst has been promoting this proposal for many years now. It has support from many town wide organizations including the League of Women Voters, the Sierra Club, the Hitchcock Center, faith based organizations, and the town’s Energy and Climate Action Committee and Board of Health. It is in the Town Manager’s annual goals and in the Town’s Climate Action, Adaptation and Resilience Plan. It would SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE our waste -by at least 40% – by both using a PAYT fee structure and diverting compostable materials from the trash.
The patent, man-made climate emergency screams for every solution that should have been taken yesterday by decision makers at all levels. The final step to make Amherst ‘greener’ is to go completely zero waste, full composting, no PFAS, no plastics! You can do it! Save our natural resources now. High time the Town of Amherst endorses the ZWA Hauler proposal.
ZWA founder & coordinator
LWV Save the Connecticut river
MA Sierra Club Exec. Com.
MA Sierra Club Water action lead
MA Sierra Club Forest Protection team
TPG steering com.
I sent this letter to the town council.
Dear Town Council Members and Town Manager,
I am asking you to act on and support the waste hauler bylaw proposal by obtaining cost information from local haulers. Moving forward on this bylaw is important for environmental and financial reasons. The environmental reasons have been clearly presented by Zero Waste Amherst and others. At present town residents have only one waste hauler option which costs $500 and more per year for a single residence. The Town’s transfer station is an alternative to contracting with waste haulers. However the transfer station has limited hours of operation and may not be an option for working families.
The Amherst Board of Health began examining their established Regulations for Refuse Collection and Mandatory Recycling in early 2021. This led to 4 actions related to the Waste Hauler Bylaw proposal:
1) November 2021 – The Board requested that “The Health Department create a working group that would review the present Regulations for Refuse Collection and Mandatory Recycling and establish the elements of a pilot program to be provided directly by the town or through a town contract with one or more haulers, that would include curbside trash, recycling and compostable materials pick up in basic service, a pay-as-you-throw fee structure and local compostable materials processing and reuse.” Town management felt that it was not feasible at the time for town staff to work on this issue given other priorities.
2) January 2022 – The Board made the following motion: “The Board of Health supports the Zero Waste Amherst’s proposal for a pilot project to include curbside trash, recycling and compostable materials pick up in basic service, and is asking for input from the Town Council and Town Manager for action on the Zero Waste Amherst’s proposal to move the proposal forward.” This request was sent in a letter to the Town Council.
3) June 2022- In continuing support of the proposal for a pilot project to include curbside trash, recycling and compostable materials pick up in basic service, the Board sent another letter to the Town Council “asking that the issue be put on the Town Council agenda.”
4) May 2023 – The Board again sent a letter to the Town Counsel asking them to act on adopting the waste hauler proposal during the summer, so that the proposal could be implemented in January 2024.
Please do not delay action on this proposal any longer.
Thank you.
Nancy Gilbert (former chair of the Amherst Board of Health)