Town Meeting passes articles unanimously, approves new trash plan

Dec 12, 2020

About 80 residents gathered under the pavilion at the Onset VFW for the annual Fall Town Meeting on Saturday, where they passed all articles unanimously.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Oct. 26, before being delayed to Dec. 28 and, finally, moved to Dec. 12. The meeting took up only articles with financial implications to keep things short.

Town Moderator Claire Smith opened the meeting with two consent agendas: One to pass routine money articles, and one to pass over the articles that were not to be taken up by the meeting.

The article that prompted the most discussion was the one setting up new bylaws and a fee system for the town’s new solid waste disposal plan.

Because the town’s current agreement with Covanta-SEMASS, Carver, and Marion will be coming to an end on Dec. 31, the town needed to come up with a plan to dispose of residents’ solid waste and recycling on its own.

The town has secured a lease for the Rte. 28 transfer station in Rochester, which it will be operating, and will be signing a contract with a private hauler for townwide curbside waste and recycling pick-up.

Transfer station users will need to buy a sticker for $125. That price will cover all the operating costs of the station.

Stickers will be sold online and through the Department of Natural Resources. There will be a grace period through Feb. 1, during which 2020 stickers will be accepted at the transfer station.

Those using the transfer station will also need to purchase specific town trash bags, which will cover the cost of waste disposal. There will be no direct cost to recycle.

Town trash bags will be for sale at supermarkets, hardware stores, and pharmacies, among other locations. No sales tax will be charged on the cost of the bags.

The bags, which Sullivan said are sturdier than those in some other towns, come in two sizes. The small bags are 12 to 15 gallons -- the same size as a typical kitchen garbage bag -- and can hold up to 15 pounds of waste. Those bags cost $1.25 each, and will be sold in rolls of ten bags for $12.50.

The larger bags will be 30 to 33 gallons -- not quite as big as a contractor bag -- and can hold about 25 pounds of waste. Those bags will be sold for $2 each, in a pack of five for $10.

Townwide curbside pick-up is scheduled to begin on April 1. Sullivan said that curbside pick-up will cost about $365 each year -- significantly cheaper than the average private hauler contract. 

Users will be given a 64 gal. bin for refuse, which will be picked up weekly, and a 96 gal. bin for recycling, which will be picked up every other week. Town trash bags don’t need to be used for curbside pick-up.

Those who use curbside pick-up will also have access to the transfer station.

To secure the low price for curbside, the town will be signing an exclusive contract with one hauler.

There will soon be a website online where people can purchase transfer station stickers and learn more about the program, Sullivan said.

The article was passed unanimously — as was the entire meeting’s warrant.