What’s Next for Waste Reduction/Curbside Compost Proposal?

Town Manager Update 
Town Manager Paul Bockelman reported to the Town Services and Outreach (TSO) Committee at its Feb. 20, 2025 meeting (at 54 min.) on progress on the waste reduction proposal that would amend our waste hauler system in Amherst to one that would require a contract between the hauler or haulers and the town through a competitive bidding process. The contract would significantly reduce our waste in two ways – by including a pay as you throw fee structure and by diverting compostable materials from the waste stream.

Last June, the TSO voted to recommend that the Town Manager issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to local haulers to find out the potential cost of such a proposal. The full council unanimously agreed at their meeting on September 9, 2024 and then unanimously agreed to allocate funds to pay a consultant to assist in writing the RFP. 

At the February 20 meeting, Bockelman reported that he had “struck out” finding a consultant at first but has now found one who is willing to meet with him and DPW Superintendent Guilford Mooring during the week of February 23 to see if what we need from him is what they can offer. The goal for the consultant is to complete an RFP.

Councilor George Ryan asked if the draft RFP would come back to the TSO. Bockelman replied that it will go there first to see if the RFP language is what TSO would agree to recommend or whether it needs changes. 

Bockelman stated that the potential consultant brought up “good questions”, including about how, with a town contract, the town would have to pay the prevailing wage to hauler workers. (Note: the Manager has brought this point up multiple times during the proposal’s long process.)

Councilor Andy Steinberg replied that other towns, like Pittsfield, South Hadley and Longmeadow had the same issue and still had a satisfactory result from their contracting process.

Timeline
Steinberg had proposed a timeline for forward action on the Waste Reduction Proposal back in September, 2024, presumably because there has been tremendous delay on this proposal.  The proposal is in the Manager’s court now and he is several months behind.

The historical timeline of this proposal starts in 2020, with the first of two DPW technical assistance grants. It then wended its way through DPW, then went to TSO, then to the Board of Health, ten back to the Town Council, then to TSO, then back to the council again, and now it has gone to the manager. The proposal has been endorsed by the Energy and Climate Action Committee and the Board of Health and many town-wide organizations. It has appeared in the manager’s annual performance goals for the last three years. See more about this proposal on the Zero Waste Amherst website.

The Council sponsors of the proposal in this term are Town Councilors Jennifer Taub, Andy Steinberg, and Ellisha Walker. The community sponsor is Zero Waste Amherst. In the last council term, Shalini Bahl-Milne was the lead council sponsor.