You Ask...Patch Answers

What if I Missed the Regular Recycling Pickup This Week?

Trash and recycling pickup went on as scheduled this week, even though Veterans Day on Monday was a holiday.

Typically when there is a holiday on a Monday, trash pickup is delayed by a day. But this week, trash pickup happened as usual, starting on Monday in Wenham and moving on to Hamilton on Wednesday. That was despite the town-issued trash calendar in Hamilton that said pickup would be delayed by a day this week. "There was a mix up," said Allison Jenkins, administrative assistant to the Hamilton Department of Public Works. The solution, she said, will be that for any residents who normally have trash pickup on Wednesday, the town's trash contractor, Hiltz Disposal, will pick up Wednesday and Thursday. And again, anyone with pickup typically on Thursday, Hiltz will pick up on Thursday and Friday. For those with Friday pickup, Hiltz will pick …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

Tell Me Something Good

If Trash Falls and No One Sees It, Is It Trash?

In an effort to do good, one citizen learns trash belongs to the person who finds it.

Trash day is aptly named. It is the day of the week that citizens of Hamilton and Wenham expect to see trash on their streets. Trash day is the day that clutter and debris is eliminated, or so the idea goes. But, at times, life proves more complicated than this. When changes in town trash rules and uppity weather enter the picture, trash day becomes less a day to cleanse and simplify than a day to wrestle with outside forces. Anyone who has ever lived with roommates knows that there is a filth tolerance gene. In a group of two or more, there is always at least one person who would rather buy paper plates than suds up a sponge, one who doesn’t think to vacuum until they lose their keys in the dust beneath their beds. These people may not …

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

Robert Gates

12:01 am on Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Susanna, When you set a day and time for your cleanup events and you are looking to get more people involved, please feel free to announce it on Patch or add it to our events calendar.   more ›

Lombardo: Pay-as-You-Throw is not a 'De Facto Tax'

Hamilton Town Manager Michael Lombardo presented Tuesday some more details - including specific cost savings - of a proposed Pay-as-you-throw trash fee program.

Several residents from Hamilton and Wenham heard more details Tuesday night about a plan to charge a per-bag fee for trash collection in the two towns through a program known as Pay as You Throw (PAYT). At the heart of the plan is an estimate that the current cost to the average household is about $180 per year but with a PAYT program each household could reduce their cost to $110 per year. It was presented and discussed at a joint meeting of the Boards of Selectmen from Hamilton and Wenham at the Hamilton-Wenham Library. Currently, Hamilton and Wenham share the same waste hauler - Hiltz - and same disposal contract with the Wheelabrator North Andover incinerator.  Both towns have a “waste reduction program” allowing each household a 35-…

•  23 Comments
• Photos (1)
• Documents (1)

Organics Collection to Continue

The first-in-the-state curbside organics collection program in the two towns will continue for at least three more months.

The state’s first and only curbside compost collection program will continue for another three months with the hopes of making it permanent. The program is voluntary and participants pay $75 per household for weekly curbside collection of organic, compostable materials. There are a total of 576 home participating – 402 in Hamilton and 174 in Wenham. That’s more than 17 percent of the households in the two towns. The brainchild of the program – Gretel Clark of Hamilton – told Wenham selectmen this week that the program needs about $9,000 more to get through the end of June. The program’s first 12 months ends on March 31. Hamilton officials had asked for it to continue for another three months so that it “dovetails” into the fiscal year, …

•  6 Comments
• Photos (1)