The new pay-as-you-throw waste reduction and recycling program in Fall River, Mass., which began on Aug. 4, saved the city $11,000 in reduced disposal fees in addition to increasing recycling by 17 tons in its first week of operation, according to figures from the city’s Department of Community Maintenance. Residential solid waste tonnage was nearly 200 tons lower last week than in the same week last year. DCM Director Ken Pacheco said he is pleased with the initial results. He said, “As more people become familiar with the program and how to work with it, we fully expect to be right at our target of $16,000 in savings per week.” According to Pacheco, anecdotal evidence also supports the findings of dramatically reduced waste in Fall River. He said that some routes are taking in so much less trash than before that some routes need just one trip to the transfer station instead of two. Mayor Will Flanagan said, “I commend our citizens for keeping an open mind on the pay-as-you-throw program, because as revenue is raised it is being reinvested back into the community for services such as education and public safety.” Pacheco added, “It’s a credit to the residents of Fall River that they have done more to reduce waste with one week of pay-as-you-throw than we did with all the other efforts of the past few decades, such as increased recycling education, curbside recycling, and single-stream recycling.” The city plans to release a more comprehensive report on the program’s performance at the end of the month. About Fall River’s PAYT Program Under the program, Fall River residents using the city’s curbside collection service dispose of their trash in official purple garbage bags stamped with the Fall River seal. Fall River’s PAYT program is managed by WasteZero as part of the WasteZero Trash Metering™ service offering. Fall River collects municipal solid waste and single-stream recycling from 33,000 households, using a combination of automated and semi-automated collection. The new purple trash bags—made in the U.S. using recycled content—are available at more than 40 retail outlets in and around Fall River, with others expected to begin carrying the bags in the coming weeks and months. The bags are available in three sizes: • Mini, 8-gallon bags, sold in packages of eight for $6.00 per package • Small, 15-gallon bags, sold in packages of eight for $10.00 per package • Large, 30-gallon bags, sold in packages of five for $10.00 per package An interactive map listing all the locations carrying the bags is available at goo.gl/maps/KEFvY. The city is projecting that annual revenue from PAYT will amount to $3.5 million, made up of $800,000 in disposal savings and $2.7 million in revenue from the sale of bags. To learn more about PAYT in Fall River, visit wastezero/fallriver.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 00:08:15 +0000
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