Green Bag program reduces trash, increases recycling

by Town Reminder

By Kristin Will
Staff Writer

SOUTH HADLEY –The Green Bag program has reduced the amount of trash residents toss yearly by 17 percent and upped recycling by four percent since its inception last July.
Total tonnage of trash has gone down by 713 tons compared to last year’s number of 4,204 tons. Dually, South Hadley recycled 1,491 tons of trash – 61 tons (four percent) more than last year.
“Those are very good numbers,” said Department of Public Works [DPW] Superintendent James Reidy. While residents currently don’t pay a fee to dispose of trash because of the landfill hosted by the town, Reidy said if the DPW had charged to dispose of trash last year, South Hadley would have saved $50,000 with the reduction in waste via the Green Bag program.
In 2007, a Solid Waste Advisory Committee [SWAC] was formed and charged with researching trash options for when the landfill’s capacity to accept trash expires and subsequently closes. Over the course of one year, SWAC met and reviewed all trash-related issues. They decided a pay-as-you-throw program would most benefit the town while simultaneously teach residents to reduce their waste by recycling as much as possible. In July of 2011, the program was implemented and residents switched over to using the required small or large green bags to dispose of their trash.
“I’ve certainly seen a reduction in our trash,” said Reidy. “All in all, the implementation went very well.”
Residents were given a grace period of about four weeks to get into the swing of the new trash disposal system. One fear, Reidy said apprehensive residents had, was a spike in illegal dumping with the program. “We really haven’t seen that,” he said. “Beyond those first two to four weeks, people got used to the program.”
Trash in any other bag than the green bags is not picked up and is labeled with a sticker explaining why the reason why it wasn’t accepted. Trash bags that are too heavy also generate a sticker notifying the resident of the issue, but are accepted if in the correct bag.
“A lot of folks are saying they’re saving money,” said Reidy. “It certainly did give people the thought they should start recycling.”
As for why the amount of recycling tonnage was not closer to the amount of less trash tossed, Reidy said South Hadley residents, for the most part, were already recycling well. Additionally, the recycling total is calculated by tonnage, not volume. Nationwide, companies are making efforts to use less plastic in their containers and packaging as well as thinner boxes. Reidy figures the four percent recycling increase was generated by residents who were not recycling whatsoever.
“I can’t complain,” he said about the program. “For a program like this, which is a pretty big change, people adapted very quickly.”
He doesn’t anticipate any major changes to the program in the future. Currently, a pilot program is being conducted using a new type of trash bag. Called a wave top bag, this trash bag doesn’t have strings to close the bag. Rather, it has four plastic flaps. Seventy people participated in the program, on which the DPW and Recycling Center are still compiling data. Reidy said it’s too early to tell if the DPW will make a switch. Prices of the trash bags will remain the same, at .50 cents per small bag and $1 per large bag.
“All in all I’m certainly happy about the program,” said Reidy. “I think the town should be proud of the job they did on this.”

Grant funds propel Green Bag Program forward

by Town Reminder

Grant funds propel Green Bag Program forward
By Kristin Will
Staff Writer, kwill@turley.com

SOUTH HADLEY – The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection [MassDEP] has awarded South Hadley a Sustainable Materials Recovery Program grant of $47,992 to use for the implementation of the pay-as-you-throw Green Bag Program.
The program is replacing the town’s current means of collecting trash beginning July 1 in an effort to encourage more recycling in the community. Currently, residents pay $30 per person in each household every year in curbside collection fees. A single person household would pay $30 per year for trash pickup, while a two-person household would pay $60, a three-person household would pay $90, and so on and so forth.
With this Green Bag Program, no longer will residents pay the $30 per person annual fee. Rather, residents will purchase large or small green-colored trash bags from local stores for $1 or 50 cents, respectively. These bag fees replace the previous $30 per person fee. Trash bills will no longer be sent to residents.
The Selectboard approved the purchase of 875 cases of 35.6 gallon green bags (the large size) and 375 cases of 14.8 gallon green bags (the small size) from a company called WasteZero. There are 40 rolls of bags to a case and five bags to a roll.
The green bags will be labeled with what items residents can recycle. The bags will be packaged as a group of five per pack. The large bags are 36 inches high and 34 inches wide. They are 1.9 millimeters thick. Small bags are 28 inches high, 24 inches wide and are 1.5 millimeters thick. Large bags fit a typical 32-gallon trash barrel, while the small trash bags fit a typical kitchen-sized trash can.
Curbside collection of trash and recycling will not change, continuing to occur every other week. The green bags may be placed at the curb alone or inside trash barrels. Trash put out in bags other than those issued by the town will not be collected.
The money collected from the cost of the green bags, estimated to total $212,500, will be put toward the Solid Waste Enterprise Fund. The total cost to the town for purchasing this first inventory of large and small bags is $66,871.25. Nearly half of that cost, $30,992, will be covered by the MassDEP grant. The remaining $35,879.25 will be covered by the Solid Waste Operating Budget.
Approximately 2,000 recycling bins will be purchased with the other portion of MassDEP grant funds, which will also cover the cost for printing the recycling calendar and flyers for marketing.
The idea for the pay-as-you-throw Green Bag Program began in 2007 when the Selectboard appointed a Solid Waste Advisory Committee [SWAC], which was put in charge of finding a way to remove trash for a time when the South Hadley landfill closes. This waste reduction program did well in other communities and SWAC got to work hashing out the particulars.
Starting in early June, the green bags will be available for purchase at both the town’s Big Y locations, Cumberland Farms on Newton Street, Gagne’s Market on Amherst Road, O’Connell’s Convenience stores on Granby Road and Newton street, Rocky’s Ace Hardware, Stop’n’Go on Bardwell Street, Tailgate and White Wing Mobil.
Residents may choose to opt out of the program and secure a contract with a private trash removal company.