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Sudbury revisits town-wide trash pickup nearly two decades after an initial conversation.
The Sudbury Energy and Sustainability committee has been on a roll of late. Following a presentation of a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory to the Select Board, there was discussion about initiatives that could help the town aggressively reduce emissions. One idea was to evaluate if a single town-wide trash hauler would help. This week the committee got right to work. Members discussed trash haulers in their monthly meeting, and it sounded like they want to move expeditiously.
The first step, according to the committee’s discussion, is a series of research tasks including a review of surrounding towns, as well as some investigation into what the process would be to procure such services. During the meeting, Chair Rami Alwan pointed out that neighboring Concord has a town-wide curbside collection program that appears to offer a significant savings over typical haulers in the area. He found that program most intriguing of the programs he had reviewed, because it is not funded via tax dollars. Full details on that program here. Alwan pointed out that consolidation down to one town-wide trash hauler would not only be good for emissions reduction, but it would reduce wear on public roads, and save residents money.
But I think that creating a single system is good for the greenhouse gases, it’s better for our roads, because the wear and tear, those vehicles are very heavy. I think it would have a lot of benefits and it would be very cost-effective for residents.”
Rami Alwan, Chair – Sudbury Energy and Sustainability Committee (07:15)
For longtime Sudbury residents experiencing flashbacks, this exact conversation has come up previously. Nearly two decades ago, the Select Board voted to establish a Solid Waste Management Options Committee. That committee found strong interest from the community in a town-wide curbside pickup program, but was unable to recommend it as an action because of the mission statement provided by the Select Board. In their final report, the committee noted:
“Our survey of Town residents indicated a strong interest in a townwide, curbside service using singlestream technology. SWMOC concludes, however, that we cannot recommend Sudbury adopt such a townwide, curbside service using single-stream technology given the mission statement’s prohibition on putting the system on the tax levy or making it mandatory. Our research indicated that for such a system to be financially viable, at least 60% of the households in Town would have to participate and that, to achieve significant savings, over 70% of the households would have to participate.”
In addition to the limitations of their mission statement, the town-run transfer station was still very popular with residents at the time. While the vast majority of residents who used a private hauler said they would switch to a town-wide program, transfer station users were not nearly interested in making a switch:
Since then, the transfer station has become less popular with Sudbury residents. In May of 2023, the Select Board voted to approve an increase in fees. At the time, Town staff was reporting an anticipated shortfall for the transfer station in FY23, and declining revenue. (Page 85)
The decline in use of the transfer station may prove to be the key for longtime advocates of a town-wide trash hauling program. But the transfer station may still have an important role to play in the future. The Energy and Sustainability Committee also discussed a town-wide composting program. Chair Alwan noted that the transfer station could be home base for such a program, and other services like large item recycling and oil disposal.
It remains early in the discussion, but it is clear that the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory has breathed new life into Sudbury’s nearly-dormant trash hauling conversation.