Littleton mulls pay-per-bag plan for garbage

    LITTLETON, Maine — Should the town switch its current system of not charging for bags of garbage at the town’s transfer station?
That is the question facing Littleton’s Board of Selectmen. A special public hearing was held Thursday at the town’s fire station with about 40 residents in attendance. Littleton is one of the last communities in the in the area where residents do not have to pay a fee for each bag of garbage.
    No action was taken at the informational meeting. Instead, the board merely wanted to get the public’s reaction to the proposal, and also fielded suggestions from the community. If the town moves ahead with its plans to adopt a pay-per-bag system, it would first need to call a special town meeting.
According to Littleton Town Manager Courtney Toby, the board of selectmen met Monday evening, but no decision was made on the pay-per-bag system.
“All of the surrounding towns have some form of a pay-per-bag system,” explained Bob Bartlett, chairman of the board of selectmen. “The benefits of paying for a bag are you only pay for what you produce as an individual. This way you are only paying for what you produce, instead of a flat rate coming out of your taxes.”
Besides keeping costs down during the budget process, charging per bag could decrease the amount of trash coming to Littleton from outside of the town. It could also increase greater recycling efforts as individuals try to limit what they throw away. Recycled materials would not be charged to be disposed of.
“This method would stop the buddy system of friends asking Littleton residents to dispose of their trash,” Bartlett said.
Bridgewater, Monticello and Houlton all charge a fee for each bag of trash disposed at their transfer stations. In Houlton, residents have a choice of buying special, 30-gallon (25-pound) trash bags to dispose of their garbage or they can use the scale system of paying for their trash based on how much it weighs.
While some towns have chosen to go with colored bags for disposing of trash, Littleton is considering stickers to mark its bags. Individuals would have to come to the transfer station or town office to purchase these stickers.
Bartlett said the town was considering a fee of $2 for each sticker, which would be good for a 30-gallon trash bag. If a household uses smaller bags, two 15-gallon bags could be tied together with just one sticker for the two, he said.
At the Pine Tree Waste transfer station in Houlton, recycling has increased since the town switched to a pay-per-bag system roughly a year ago, according to Dean Lawrence, site manager. Outside residents are able to bring their recycled materials to the transfer station during normal hours of operation, he said.
The cost for bags varies depending on which town a person resides in, Lawrence added. For example, Houlton residents pay $2.50 for their bags, while those in the outlying communities that bring their trash to the transfer station are charged $2.65 per bag. Smyrna residents are charged $1.75 for their bags.
One of the disadvantages of switching to a pay-per-bag system, Bartlett said, is that it could increase the amount of trash dumped illegally on the sides of roads or in wooded areas.
What prompted the town to consider charging on a per bag basis was the success that Monticello had when it made the switch a year ago. According to Ginger Pryor, town manager of Monticello who was in attendance for the meeting, said her town was able to slash its transfer station budget nearly in half over the past two years. Monticello residents raised about $45,000 for its transfer station this year, as opposed to $70,000 last year and more than $90,000 two years ago.
The amount of trash collected also decreased in Monticello as residents became more diligent in their recycling efforts.
Some residents in the town bring their trash to the transfer station in a barrel. Under the sticker system, those individuals would still be able to do that.
“A lot of farmers want to bring their trash in a barrel and we could work something out for that,” Bartlett said. “If a barrel could hold two bags, we would charge two stickers for that barrel. It will involve some common sense.”
Residents asked if the town would see a tax reduction since they would be paying less in the town budget for the transfer station. Bartlett said that was impossible to answer because the transfer station is just one line in the budget.
The amount of garbage being dumped at Littleton’s transfer station has increased steadily over the past three years. In 2008, the town generated 405.92 tons of garbage, not counting waste collected in dumpsters around the town. That figure rose to 419.65 tons in 2009 and 431.84 tons in 2010.
Including the garbage collected in dumpsters, Littleton residents generated 493.7 tons of waste in 2008; 512.27 tons in 2009 and 513.75 tons in 2010. The cost per ton has also rose dramatically over the past four years. In 2008, the cost was $71 per ton. That figure rose to $79.25 per ton in 2010 and the estimated figure for 2011 is $82 per ton.
Who would police the transfer station was another question raised. The selectmen said they did not have an answer for that question other than to say that the staff at the site would try its best to make sure each person was disposing of trash properly.
What to do with items that did not necessarily fit into a bag as also brought up. Bartlett said the transfer station attendants would need to exercise their judgment on exactly how many stickers larger items should have on them.