Hi, Rich, We are a family of four and we have one very small bag of trash a week, and that's on a bad week. I cannot believe how light our trash barrel is once we started composting and recycling everything we possibly could. Give it a try. Also, the new lightbulbs save us money. Just saying.

Moving to weekly recycling will be a great change. Shifting to buying all the bags will greatly help us increase the amount of recycling (free to dispose of) and decrease the expensive trash. maybe some corporate sponsors could get their names on the bags to reduce the cost per bag?

I still believe we would be double-paying for trash removal, at least initially. I recycle everything I can already; therefore my total solid waste volume would not decrease further; instead, I would be charged for its removal twice: both in my taxes and via the PAYT program. I agree with Steph that we are already doing a good job. Let's leave well enough alone!

We go through 3-4 bags a week on the average. I resent the town charging us for trash removal, that's what we pay property taxes for. If they were so concerned with recycling, why do they allow people to use burning barrels? The neighborhood burning barrels push huge plumes of dark smoke into the air that we end up breathing and it gets all over the furniture. I don’t care for the entire forced recycling program. The town wants to recycle, great, recycle. With the high unemployment, why not hire some people to sort through the garbage and sort it. I don’t have time to do it, I work all week. Wenham residents pay the highest property taxes around. What is that money being used for? This is just another example of squeezing us for more money while pretending it’s in the name of saving the environment. What a bunch of hypocrites.

Please explain the value proposition for the taxpayer. To me it’s not about the cost of the trash bags, it’s about the extra trip to purchase them. Since moving to the limited trash pick-up, we have NEVER purchased a green bag for extra trash. Under this proposal, I'd need one every week.
When the town moved to a 33-gal per week limit, we spent over $75 to purchased two 44-gallon bins to hold 2-weeks of recycling. We don’t need weekly recycling now; we’ve adjusted.

thank you for doing a good job recycling, by the way, we'll make sure your RE taxes will go to better use than picking up your tiny bag of trash you can pay for.
.....reminds me when they made us believe if we conserved oil consumption the oil companies would eventually have to reduce the price,..how did that work out?
Trash and recycling companies need to make money also, and if we're being good citizens and conserving our trash, then they too will raise the cost, or find other ways to make money...ala this SMART program.

There were questions asked at the Town Hall meetings that were never adequately answered. The questions were these. Our trash pickup has always paid for by our property taxes. Why is there suddenly not enough money from our property taxes to cover trash pickup? Why do other towns have enough money in their budgets to cover trash pickup and we don’t. What’s to keep the Town of Wenham from wanting to start charging us for snow removal? Why hasn’t the pay-for-trash-pickup been voted on by the people of Wenham? Why are these decisions being made by a select few? If the new program saves us money, why does the Town of Wenham take our property taxes and want us to pay cash on top of it? If it’s truly saving money, it shouldn’t cost us anymore and in fact our property taxes should go down as they are spending less on the trash programs. The numbers don’t add up, the logic and reasoning doesn’t make sense, and this program is being shoved down our throats under the ridiculous explanation that it’s simply good for us and the world. I’m not buying it and either is anyone else that I’ve spoken to. It’s too bad that this is a done deal and all of our questions and concerns is really a waste of our time. The town is going to do what they want, they know it and the there’s nothing we can do about it.

I'll just repeat what I said before. I am a serious recycler and now have it down to about 1/2 barrel a week which is now free except for what my property taxes pay towards the collection. Why would I want to now pay extra for that one barrel? Just to encourage more people to participate? I don't think so! If the towns want to encourage more recycling, just give them a large single streaming barrel, collect it once a week and see what happens. I'll bet recycling will increase dramatically.

NO NEW TAXES PLEASE! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH !!!

Regarding the town's high taxes, this isn't about the taxes; this is about the town's trash. We are not complaining about our taxes, we gladly pay them every year. This about you double charging us to take out our trash. What changed from last year? Our taxes paid for everything, our taxes also went up -- so what has changed? Regarding the town meetings, I have gone to them and I have found them to be useless. They were nothing but fluffed up numbers and graphs. The town officials had no interest in listening to our concerns. It was just another dog and pony show. The town has never cared about what we think, as they have shown in the past, they will do what they want.

For the sake of clarity, they might want to change the program name from Save Money As you Reduce Trash or SMART.... to Start Taxing Every Article Left In The Garbage, or STEALING for short.

Personally, I reject the premise that our selectmen and town employees are out to steal from us, or to make life harder for us. Having trash picked up at your driveway and trucked to an incinerator is expensive, and it seems fair that those who create more trash should pay more. And I will bet anyone that this program will increase our recycling rates.

I will repeat what others have already said; we are already recycling to the fullest, and we are already paying for trash collection from our property taxes. This is a pathetic attempt to double charge us for the same service. When someone intentionally double charges, in an effort to turn a profit, it's dishonest and it's called stealing. Also those people who are creating more trash are ALREADY paying more. They have to buy the green and blue town bags to put their garbage in, so that point makes no sense. Whether you reject or accept what the town is trying to do is up to you, the reality remains the same.

Regarding taxes:
There are increasing costs every year
• Electricity to light the streets, buildings and parks
• Gas to run the trucks that fix the streets, plow the snow, and fuel the police, fire and waste collection vehicles
• Healthcare costs for those that work for us in our government, Recreational Department, DPWs and Councils on Aging.

None of this includes the schools which is where almost 2/3 of the town’s budget is spent. Our taxes were spent to have an exhaustive audit done in the schools to try to find ways to save money there.

In order to keep our tax rate even level, the towns will have to continue to do some very serious thinking about where we can least painfully reduce costs to offset the rising costs listed above.
The SMART program is an innovative and pretty painless way to reduce town waste removal expense and hopefully cushion the blow in the future.

It looks like most of the comments above come from people who are already doing a good job of recycling (i.e. less than 1 barrel of solid waste/week). What do you think if the towns were to give to each household 52 free half size bags/year? That way, those who do recycle don't have help pay for those who don't.

Gretel Clark

No one is denying that the cost of everything is going up. Our taxes go up each year to address those annual rising cost. This plan also isn’t about the cost of electricity or the cost to run our schools. That’s all included in our property taxes as well, as is our trash removal. For those who don’t have the time to aggressively recycle as others, they are already paying the penalty by being required to purchase the green and blue bags. All you’re doing is penalizing the people who are already doing a great job of recycling. The town seems to be very good at creating smoke screens and tossing around statistics. The key point to remember is that we are already paying for trash removal and the town wants to charge us again for the same service. Once they start charging us for all trash removal, it will be very easy for them to increase the cost per barrel every year. Next they will start charging us for leaf removal even though that has always been included in property taxes as is snow removal. It’s time for everyone to stand up and tell the town that the buck stops here. If they can’t manage the budget, maybe it’s time to get a team in that can.

For those who haven’t had the time to attend the Town Hall meetings, the statistics shown above are the same sort of statistics handed out at the meeting. The problem with this information is that it’s subjective data that has been massaged by the public relations spin-doctors to support the position of the town officials.

What they fail to tell you is that tens of thousands of towns around the country have rejected the SMART program and other similar programs. Across the board, residents have rejected this proposition declaring that “they have already paid for trash removable through their property taxes and they weren’t going to pay for it twice.”

Stating that we only recycle 30% is false. The research indicates that we are currently recycling between 68% and 74% of our trash. The experts agree that achieving 90% or better is unrealistic. To achieve 90%+ would require everyone to have a compost heap on their property. The experts have warned that over composting leads to vermin infestation. By trying to force people to do better than 75% would lead to over composting and burning trash in barrels, both of which are bad for the environment and our health.

Here is my proposal:
Keep the program just the way it is now with 2 changes.
1. Give every household a large single stream barrel at NO CHARGE.
2. Collect recycling every week instead of every other week.

This will accomplish several things.
A. It will encourage everyone to participate in the recycling because of the convienence of having the single stream barrel and no sorting.
B. It won't cost the town any more to increase to every week collection because the contractors labor costs will be dramatically reduced with this new type barrel.
C. The cost to the town for the single stream barrel will be paid for by the reduced tipping fees the increased recycle participation will create.

I WANT TO KEEP MY ONE FREE BARREL!
(We all know it's not free because it's paid for through my property taxes)

I take advantage of the dumpster at the town hall for carboard. Not sure why they cant have a metals and plastic dumpster as well.

I’ve seen proposals like this pushed through in the past without the town consulting the residents. The Town Hall meetings that I’ve attended have been basically for show. In an earlier post it was mentioned that this plan was going to be put on a town meeting warrant this fall. Does this mean it will go to a residential vote or will the Selectmen approve it behind closed doors as they have in the past? There have been a lot of good suggestions on the Patch during the last several weeks but no one is listening. What do we have to do to stop this from going through? No one who understands this proposal thinks it’s a good idea. It’s charging us twice for the same service, pure and simple. Yet, I guarantee this is already a done deal and the details are being worked out as we speak. This is the exact process that I’ve seen here year after year. The town decides to do something, they have a few Town Hall meetings to let people blow off steam and then they pass their proposal and it goes into effect.

Is the town proposing to charge us for trash collection in addition to what we are already paying with our property taxes? I don't understand. We are already paying for trash collection. Am I missing something?

Mike & Bob, I agree with you both. I want to keep our one bag or barrel that is included in our property taxes, and pay for the additional bags -- like we ALREADY have in place. I DO feel like this proposal punishes me for my compliancy the to current program (which I like very much).

I agree Sandy.

Not only is this proposal a horrible idea, but if it goes through, the town will begin increasing the pickup fee annually.

I encourage everyone to start e-mailing and calling our State Senator and State Representatives and letting them know what a bad idea this is. Ask them to contact the Wenham Selectmen and tell them to drop this proposal.

State Senator
Bruce Tarr
Room 314
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-1600
Email: BTarr@senate.state.ma.us

State Representative
Bradford Hill
Room 550
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2489
Email: Rep.BradHill@hou.state.ma.us

Thanks Jim. I'm going into a meeting now, but I will call the State Represantative's office shortly. I will add a post later letting everyone know how I made out.

The title Selectmen is rather anonymous. The names of the people who are trying to push this proposal through are listed below. Feel free to use their names when voicing your complaints to the State Representatives office. You may also want to e-mail the Selectmen shown below directly to voice your concerns.

Contact the Wenham Board of Selectmen:
Molly Martins, Chair mmartins@wenhamma.gov
John Clemenzi Vice-chair jclemenzi@wenhamma.gov
Patrick Wilson, Secretary pwilson@wenhamma.gov

Thank you Jim. I have now contacted both State Senators and provided them with the link to the article as well as the above names. I have stated my position to them as well as other residents who are opposing this program. Again, I urge all to contact your State Senators. We have a voice and its time for people to listen to our concerns.

Our selectmen need to be looking for ways to Cut Costs and Reduce the overall budget expense. They should look at some of the Biggest Expenses and get ideas on how to reduce them from the experience of other towns. But wait... that is what they have done with this trash reduction proposal. Trash disposal is a huge expense and many other MA towns have saved big $ by moving to a system where people pay more if they throw out more. Just like water, oil, and gas - you use more, you pay more. Thank you, selectmen, for trying to reduce our budgets. When the town saves money, that keeps our taxes from increasing further, and we all save.

I agree John. The above comment from Greg -- are you kidding me. Seriously.

I just telephoned my State Representative and expressed my concern regarding this proposal. They documented my complaint and said they would look into it. I let them know that I don't want to pay again for trash removal and that this proposal was not well thought out.

The claim that 134 communities have adoped PAYT is very misleading. http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/reduce/images/paytmap.pdf is a map from the DEP website about PAYT. First it shows that over half the communities claimed as PAYT towns are in the western part of the state - towns with small populations & tax bases & large square mileage which never provided trash pickup as a municipal service. More glaringly it shows Hamilton, Wenham and Ipswich as PAYT towns which we know they are not. Query how many other communities (and the map shows very few in the greater Boston area anyway) are listed as PAYT towns which are not. While I do not share the dark visions of some of the other posters and would like to support a program which encourages recycling, the data that has been presented to date is flawed at best.

It's funny (and sad) to see that Hamilton is currently listed as a PAYT success story on the Mass.Gov DEP web site with a recycling rate increase of 17% to 28% with the current program http://www.mass.gov/dep/recycle/reduce/paytfact.htm.

Now per the Hamilton Town Manager, the exact same PAYT program has become a complete and total failure with a current recycling rate of 28% as that is down from a peak 2010 recycling rate of 31%.

How can both opposite points of view (State and Town) be true at the same time?

That's an easy question.

The current PAYT program leaves "money on the table" i.e. in the pockets of the taxpayer.

By charging for every single trash bag, local officials intend to bleed the taxpayer dry - for their own good, of course.

Next, they will institute Pay as You Plow. There will be a Snow Enterprise Fund which will bill every taxpayer $5 per inch of snow that falls over the average snowfall for the year (40 inches). If it snows 80 inches like last winter, you'll pay $200 more ($5 X 40) into the fund. But don't worry, it's not a tax increase. You are just paying for the increase costs of plowing, so it won't increase your tax bill. This way they will be able to plow the streets before there are accidents, unlike last year when they waited until there were serious accidents before plowing.

Professor Daniel K. Benjamin is a senior fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center. ""It is a waste to recycle when the costs of doing so exceed the benefits." Benjamin said, "In most cities across the nation, recycling of household trash is, in fact, wasteful, even when we take into account the meager environmental benefits of such recycling."According to Benjamin, commercial recycling is worth our while, but curbside recycling expends an "undue amount capital and labor per pound of material" to reuse items of extremely low value. "The only things that intentionally end up in municipal solid waste," writes Benjamin, "are both low in value and costly to reuse or recycle. Yet these are the items that municipal recycling programs are targeting....Most local governments subsidize recycling programs out of overcharges on trash pickup or other taxes. This misleads people into thinking that curbside and other municipal recycling programs conserve resources—when in fact they do not," says Benjamin. Recycling costs up to 50% more per ton than landfill disposal. State and local municipalities should put an end to such cross-subsidies, price trash-pickup and recycling at a price that reflects their full costs, and let people voluntarily choose which system to use."

Let me add, in a town with a tight budget, we should do meaningful environmental changes, not pointless and expensive recycling of household waste.

(more) Far more benefit would come from a town wide ban of toxic lawn chemicals that are known and powerful carcinogens. Let's not worry about the empty environmental symbolism and waste of curbside trash pickup.

We already pay for trash removal thru our taxes.How is it not a tax,to give us a single 1/2 size bag,"free"? I've already paid for a full bag.Bob Gray has a great idea...keep the one barrel we now use...and maybe allow a sticker,as someone suggested,on our bags,instead of a special bag for extras?
I think that once again we are being snookered but the BOS.They,as all gov't folks...are SO much smarter than we are! We just pay the taxes and let them do what they will? Not the way I learned about democracy.The BOS is supposed to represent us..not tell us,thru their actions...that they know best!...shut up and pay!
Call it what you wil...THIS IS A TAX! Unless the town returns each household's tax share for trash removal,we shouldn't have to pay for 2-1/2 size bags each week.Gretal...it's a hoax...just because YOU like to be green...doesn't mean you can tell all of us what to do!
The BOS better let us vote on this...or watch out next election!

There is a lot of great information posted above. My only question now is why is this proposition still being considered? It’s clear that this program has failed miserably in other towns and it’s clear that recycling household trash is not profitable but is actually costly. It’s evident that the residents have already paid for the collection of (1) large trash can per week, but the town wants to charge them again for the same trash can. All of our taxes were raises once again last year to cover the budget increases and people going over one can per week are already paying for the town trash bags. No one wants this program, it makes no sense and all and it has a proven track record as being a program that will fail if implemented. So why is this still being proposed? Is it something as simple as pure stubbornness or the town refusing to admit they made a mistake? I don’t understand why this is still on the table. Scrap it and move on!

Does anyone know when the next Town Hall meeting will be?

Thank you for the information. Unfortunately I work and will not be able to attend the 9:00 AM meeting. The October 22nd meeting looks better as that is a Saturday. Do you know what time the 10/22 meeting will be? Will the SMART Proposal be on the agenda for all three meetings, 09/09, 10/22 and 11/08?

Thank you again. I know a lot of people who would like to attend these meetings but have scheduling conflicts. It would be very useful to us if you would let us know when the SMART proposal is on a warrant and when the discussion meeting is scheduled. In other words, if we were going to take off work or leave work early to attend one meeting to voice our concerns with the SMART program, what meeting would that be? Thanks again for your help.

Sounds like the vote will be October 11 at 7pm. The Wenham Board of Selectmen indicated this week that they would like to vote on this matter with the Hamilton Board of Selectmen in a Joint Meeting on October 11. If you're calendar planning, hold that date open. Note: at this point BOTH towns have determined they do not need voter approval to put this plan in place.

That's about what we expected. They are going to shut the door and vote this into practice regardless of what the residents feel is the right move. This process is laughable. They can do what they want, who cares. I just think it hilarious that they pretend to listen to us and then shut the doors at Town Hall and force this down our throats like they always do. It’s pretty funny. What a bunch of misfits. Knock yourself out.

Why not implement Bob Gray's recommendation to give every household a 65-gallon single-stream recycling barrel at no additional charge to residents? That would satisfy the needs for residents 90 percent of the time? I mean, who fills more than two 33-gallon trash bags worth of waste per week under ordinary circumstances? The barrels would be paid for out of the expected cost savings on tipping fees and hauling charges, and the Town would still save money on its existing waste removal contract. Implement PAYT for volume beyond the first 65-gallon barrel. It doesn't make sense or seem fair for all residents to be paying for the few who create excessive waste.

We can save our breath. They've made it clear that they don't care what we think. Someone said it last month "this is a done deal" and I agree. They've only had the town meetings so they could say they listened to us voice our concerns. They are going to shove this down our throats again like they always do. Next pay for leaf collection, followed by a blizzard snow removal fee. Then every year the fees for these services will increase. Meanwhile our taxes will go up just like they always do. The Selectmen are a joke. I feel like I'm in Mayberry. A bunch of hillbilly's worrying about the stupid birch trees one day and taxing us to death the next. Give me a break. Get your check books ready, it's time to line their greasy pockets again.

How do we remove these people from office? Can anyone run?

Well, look, your Selectmen can vote to do whatever they want, but it's clear that they are not winning the hearts and minds of residents here. A VERY similar PAYT trash proposal was defeated at Lynnfield Town Meeting just last year. Littleton, Weston, Malden, and Lexington have all done the same, and I imagine that the Board of Selectmen know that a citizens petition requesting an article be added to the Special Town Meeting warrant would effectively kill SMART in Hamilton. The fact of the matter is that trash removal services have been free since the dawn of time, or at least since anyone can remember, and this is going to come across as an override end-around. Residents will find a way to rebel, whether it be the Seattle Stomp or some other socially inefficient means of avoiding the fees. The Town will save on tipping fees simply by switching to single-stream recycling, and should do so. And it should implement PAYT in a SMART way that does not come across as heavy-handed to residents.

The SMART (formerly known as PAYT) program is on the agendas at both Hamilton and Wenham BOS this week. Now, may be your last chance to be heard!
Hamilton, Monday night, around 8pm at Hamilton Town Hall.
Wenham, Tuesday night, around 7:20pm at Wenham Town Hall.
Check-out the full agendas online on the town websites or here on Patch.

Mark your calendar. Hamilton BOS intends a vote about the plan on Wed. night at 5pm at Town Hall. If you have questions or concerns about the program, you should plan to be there.

5:00 PM Vote!!! HOW CONVENIENT!! We will all be leaving our offices and will be stuck in traffic at 5:00 PM. They must really think we are ignorant. From the very beginning they've intended to push this through without any consideration to what we want. I thought I saw an e-mail a few weeks ago stating that this was going to go to town vote in November, whatever happened to that! They know if it went to town vote, it would never be approved. The Selectmen are an arrogant, self serving bunch. Get your check books ready and be prepared to start paying for garbage pickup twice. Also be ready for your property taxes to increase once again this year and for the cost of garbage collection to go up next year. Don't be surprised if the Selectmen tell us that they need to start charging for leaf collection followed by blizzard snow removal fees to cover the plow driver’s overtime. This entire process has been nothing but a joke. This has been politics at its best.

Town Meeting Saturday, May 12 @ 9am at the High School...Article 2-3 Waste Enterprise Budget. This is your chance to let the Selectmen know how the new trash program is working out for you.