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Date: 2/26/2020
WILBRAHAM – Leaders of several area towns came together to discuss shared issues at a municipal regionalization meeting on Feb. 19 in the Wilbraham Police Station’s community meeting room.
Town administrators, committee members and select board members from Wilbraham, Hampden, Palmer, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow and Ludlow were joined by Lorri McCool of the Hampden and Wilbraham boards of health and Erin Hastings, director of the regional dispatch center WESTCOMM.
Two major topics were discussed: the contract with the material recycling facility (MRF) in Springfield and regionalization of emergency dispatch services.
Steve Ellis, from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) began the meeting by addressing the options that towns have to contract with MRF in Springfield.
Ellis said he was there to “let people know what their options are and choose the best one.” He said the state was a neutral third-party, and that while MassDEP owns the MRF, the facility is run by a private company, Waste Management.
“All of you know that we’re not in a good place when it comes to recycling,” Ellis said. He explained a little of the history behind the recycling market, and said that in 2005, when the last contract with the MRF was signed, communities received at least $16 per ton for recycling. In 2015, when that contract expired, the price had dropped to $10 per ton. Now, he said, “there really is no revenue and recycling anymore.”
Ellis said “we just cannot meet the criteria,” from China, which Hampden Interim Town Administrator Bob Markel said has dropped from a 2 percent contamination rate to a .2 percent level of acceptability. Ellis said the MRF’s allowable contamination rate is 15 percent by weight per ton but towns usually have a contamination rate of between 3 percent and 6 percent. He pointed to single-stream recycling, in which all recyclables are placed in a single container and sorting is done at the plant, as the biggest offender with contamination rates as high as 25 percent.
As early as last year, Ellis said, the MRF “made a very concerted effort” to let towns know that prices would go up “significantly.”
The new five-year contract for dual-stream recycling that MRF has proposed would charge $93.50 per ton of recycling for the first year and increase 2.5 percent every year thereafter. The sale of recyclable material would be deducted from the cost up to 100 percent. Any proceeds above that would be split with the municipality receiving 70 percent and the rest going to Waste Management.
He said they are hoping the market will turn around and lower costs for the towns, but that the rebound of the market will likely mean “more mills develop processing – in this country again.”
Glass presents another issue in the recycling challenge. Glass composes up to 23 percent of recyclable material by weight. Ellis said the last glass mill in Massachusetts closed last year. Waste Management does not want to process the glass, which he said costs up to $40 per ton to dispose of.
A clause in the proposed contract from the MRF allows for a discount of $5 per ton if glass is excluded. Ellis said an added bonus was that the missing weight of the glass would lower the tonnage shipped to the MRF.
Markel shared with the other municipal leaders that a grant was available for groups of three or more communities that purchase a glass crushing machine to process the recyclable glass. Each town would still be required to dispose of the crushed glass in a sustainable manner.
Referring to the grant, Ellis said he would “try to make that happen,” after the new contracts have been signed. While the deadline for signing the contract is Feb. 28, the glass decision does not have to be made at that time.
A final factor in the contract is that the towns that participate in dual-stream recycling have to generate a combined 17-tons per year. If not, Waste Management has the option to terminate the contract. Ellis said single-stream communities are either converting to dual-stream or going with private companies.
The officials discussed the options when Ellis was finished. Wilbraham Select Board Chair Susan Bunnell asked if it is illegal to throw recyclables in the trash. Ellis responded that, while there is no state law, MassDEP regulation prohibits disposal of recycling materials with solid waste. He also said no communities that he knows of want to stop recycling.
Bunnell noted that damage was done to roads when trucks from multiple private waste companies used them.
She also said one way to lower contamination was to have volunteers check containers and leave notes that a container was contaminated and would not be picked up that week. A similar program has been in use in East Longmeadow, according to the town’s officials.
Ludlow Select Board member Manny Silva brought up proposed legislation to enact a glass bottle deposit as an option to deal with the glass issue.
Ellis said that in Wellesley glass is sorted into colors before recycling. “I don't know who they sell it to, but I'm sure it’s attractive to some buyers.”
The question was raised about contracting with the MRF for only a portion of recyclables. Ellis said that under the contract towns can’t sell some recycling to other companies because it would only leave the least valuable materials for the MRF.
When discussing recyclable materials that the MRF does not accept, East Longmeadow officials mentioned that the town has a program in which it gives residents pink bags for textiles which can be put out with other waste and will be recycled.
The second major topic discussed was the regionalization of emergency dispatch services. Hastings said that WESTCOMM works with Monson, Longmeadow and Chicopee, though it has the capacity to serve up to 20 towns.
The center is responsible for 75 percent of the dispatch costs, while the municipality is responsible for the rest. Hastings said the state is supporting regionalization by funding the first three years of each municipality’s costs through a development grant. The towns would be responsible for half of the municipality cost in the fourth year and 75 percent in the fifth year, after which it would pay it’s full portion.
Hastings said that WESTCOMM received a letter from one town’s firefighters’ union saying that the service was the best thing the town could have done, in part because the workers are not distracted with other duties and all personnel are trained in emergency dispatch, which includes guided CPR.
Longmeadow Select Board Chair Marie Angelides said that she’s had no complaints about the service since joining with WESTCOMM when it began in December 2019.
Palmer Town Manager Ryan McNutt said that he had experience with regional dispatch during his work in a previous town.
“It really is a no brainer,” McNutt said, and added “the state does cover a lot of the infrastructure.”
Longmeadow Select Board member Richard Foster added “[regional dispatch is] always going to have the latest equipment.”
Bunnell said that receiving a non-negotiable budget from a regionalized service does not “sit well” with her. Wilbraham Select Board member Robert Boilard asked how long the state will continue offering funding for the regionalization. He said he was concerned that dispatch would follow a similar pattern as school regionalization, in which he said the towns were “left holding the bag.”
Foster noted “you have to give up a little bit of turf,” while Angelides said that regionalization gives the towns greater purchasing power to negotiate with the state.
Ludlow Select Board member Derek DeBarge said, “There’s pros and cons to both,” regionalization and individual municipal dispatch, but expressed concern about “the state pulling the rug out from under you.” He also said there is value to emergency responders feeling connected to the dispatchers.
Angelides said, “The more I look at it, emergencies don’t stop at the Longmeadow border. We cannot sustain the way we provide services.” She said if the state tries to cut funding, “we have to hold their feet to the fire.”