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Date: 12/21/2020
MONTGOMERY – After getting input from several residents at a public hearing on Dec 10, the Montgomery Board of Health and Board of Selectmen decided to hold off on a vote to end the town’s biweekly recycling pickup until the Annual Meeting in May.
Christine Brown of the Montgomery Recycling Committee said the current town pick up will continue until June 30, 2021.
Brown said the reason the town is considering discontinuing this program is because the costs have increased significantly since the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) in Springfield started charging a $93.50-per-ton tipping fee last year. If the town’s curbside recycling program ends on July 1, 2021, residents and businesses will still have to recycle because it is required by state and local regulations and bylaws. The Recycling Committee has recommended requiring that private trash haulers operating in Montgomery offer a bundled service that includes recycling pickup.
At the meeting on Dec. 10, the Board of Health adopted new regulations requiring all private haulers collecting and transporting waste materials within the town to obtain a permit at the cost of $50 annually and file a reporting form at year’s end operating to renew the permit from the town, another piece of the proposal.
“No decision was made except for the fact that the Selectmen are going to get the haulers to register, and if they’re hauling in town they’re going to have to pay a fee. No decision will be made on the new plan until the next town meeting,” Brown said.
One resident attending the meeting asked if the town wanted to do away with services that it provides when trying to attract new families to town, and suggested that discontinuing the service may be detrimental at a time when acquiring town-wide high-speed internet is a selling point for real estate.
The resident also asked if the Board of Health and Selectmen had looked into the costs of alternatives to the proposed new program.
Brown said the options are to continue the biweekly recycling pickup by the town, which will cost more than $40,000. The second option is the proposal for residents to have their private haulers pick up recycling. She said that plan includes having the town continue an annual pick up of bulk items and hazardous waste materials, which will have some cost to it.
The third option so far, Plan C, is for the town to get official bids from haulers and choose one to pick up trash and recyclables for all the residents. This option would require 80 percent of residents to agree to join the service.
According to the Recycling Committee, it was determined many years ago that there was no suitable site where a transfer station could be built in town. At that time a bid was issued for a curbside trash and recycling collection program, but none of the waste haulers were responsive. This was because serving a small rural community was an expensive proposition and the town had no plan to pay for it.
Today, obtaining competitive bids from haulers to provide both curbside trash and recycling services for Montgomery’s 350 households would still be very challenging, and it would require legal and technical consulting assistance. If the proposed service were to be funded by the town, residents would have to approve a higher tax rate. If this service were managed as a franchise – permitting only one entity to provide subscription services in town – getting the majority of households to sign-on would be difficult, and anything less than 80 percent would not result in a cost-effective program, according to the committee.
“We’re just a small committee. We brought recycling into town and it’s ballooned. We’re trying to do what is right. If we are going to go to Plan C, we’re going to need professional help. Town counsel would be involved – that’s a formidable task,” Brown said.
The Recycling Committee also responded to a question about state grants that might be available to subsidize the cost of a curbside collection program. They said Montgomery has received small grants in the past for recycling bins, educational materials, signage, etc., but the grant opportunities are limited due to the small population, as well as the lack of a transfer station and trash collection program.
Another option that the town has not explored is whether Montgomery residents could access another municipality’s trash/recycling program, although Brown said she didn’t think this was going to happen.
“I do not see that happening. I don’t know if any of these towns would want to invite Montgomery to come in and join forces with them,” Brown said.
The Recycling Committee said they would investigate this as well as any other viable options to present at the Annual Town Meeting, so residents can make informed decisions about the proposed changes to the existing recycling program.
“Based on the questions we had, we have to put this to the town to vote,” Brown said.