New recycling effort could add years to life of landfill

Date: 11/3/2010

Nov. 3, 2010

By G. Michael Dobbs

Managing Editor

CHICOPEE -- Is a trash fee in the city's future? Whether or not city residents will have to pay for trash disposal will have a lot to do with the future lifespan of the landfill and how citizens respond to a new recycling program, according to Mayor Michael Bissonnette.

Single stream recycling might be more than just a way to help the environment -- it also will extend the life of the landfill used by the city, which could save the city millions of dollars, Bissonnette told citizens attending neighborhood meeting at the Litwin School last week.

Bissonnette explained that thanks to a $100,000 grant the city received it has been able to purchase a 96-gallon wheeled garbage barrels for every household in the city -- more than 18,000 of them. The new blue barrels will be used to collect all recyclable materials. There will no longer be any sorting of glass, plastic, paper and cardboard once the program begins in the spring, he said.

The more the city recycles, the more money it receives from those materials and the less that goes into the landfill, he said.

City officials believe the landfill operated by Waste Management will be open until 2015 and hope that by having a more successful recycling effort an additional year or two could be added to the landfill's life. The landfill is "rapidly reaching its capacity," Bissonnette said.

One thing that is slowing down the filling of the facility is the recession, he added. People are buying less consumer goods and creating less trash, he explained.

Bissonnette explained Waste Management does not own the landfill property and there is a possibility the landfill could be expanded if Waste Management can negotiate a new contract with the owners of the property.

Currently the city can dispose of 350 tons of trash a year in the landfill and thanks to the present recycling effort, Bissonnette said the city isn't "remotely close" to that threshold.

The city pays about $1 million for trash disposal, but that could rise to between $4 million and $5 million if the landfill is closed.

Bissonnette said since the state is not granting permits for any new incinerators, the city would have to build a transfer station that would be a central place to collect garbage before it is then trucked out of town.

He called this option "very expensive."