With all the contention in Amherst politics that we’ve seen in recent years, it’s great to see an idea come along that everyone can get behind. Zero Waste Amherst (ZWA), a citizens group committed to preserving resources and minimizing the public health and environmental impacts of waste management, is offering a proposal that will effectively address these issues and save us money as well.
USA Waste and Recycling, the only residential hauler in town, is using its monopoly on waste management to charge exorbitant fees. Residents have little incentive to reduce their waste and must pay extra for recycling of food scraps, nonrecyclable paper products, and other organic materials. These compostable items constitute almost half of our waste stream, and disposing of them in our trash has huge environmental impacts: methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is released when they’re buried in landfills, and burning organics in incinerators spews large amounts of lethal particulates and pollutants as well as carbon dioxide into the air.
ZWA is proposing a bylaw amendment that would transition to a system in which the town of Amherst contracts with a hauler that will be required to provide curbside pickup of organics – think three bins instead of two. Residents will pay the town a standard fee for recycling and compost pickup and purchase specially marked trash bags from the town. The more we divert smelly garbage and recyclables from our waste (and the less “stuff” that we buy), the more we’ll save.
This common-sense proposal, which can be viewed at the Zero Waste Amherst website (select the “Projects” tab), will be brought to the Town Council for consideration next month. Please contact your town councilors at towncouncil@amherstma.gov and urge them to endorse the proposal. You can also like and follow Zero Waste Amherst on Facebook. Let’s do this!
John Root
Former chairman, Amherst Recycling and Refuse Committee