Pay-as-you-throw / PAYT Presentation to BoS 9/25/17

An alternative approach for disposal of and for Boxborough

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 1 Boxborough Energy Committee

• Frances Nolde - Chair • Bob Stemple – BoS Liaison • Richard Garrison • Abby Reip • Molly Biron • Keshava Srivastava • Raid Suleiman • Larry Grossman • Travis Gebhardt

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 2 Our Current Program • Flat-rate system (sticker) which is subsidized by property taxes. (+/-$100,000/yr) and increasing.

• Sticker price - $150/household, no cost for seniors

• Each household pays the same regardless of how much waste they generate.

• There is no incentive to reduce waste produced.

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 3 Why PAYT?

• Single most effective tool to reduce waste and increase recycling • Towns that have adopted PAYT have reduced waste from 30%-50% • Environmental benefits – more recycling = less waste • Equitable – like utilities, you pay for what you use

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 4 Economic Sustainability • Our costs for are increasing.

• Under a PAYT option, some of the costs of waste management can be removed from property tax bills.

• Waste management is then treated just like other utilities such as electricity, oil, gas, sewer or water that are charged by unit of consumption.

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 5 Equity • One of the most important advantages of a PAYT program is its inherent fairness. Waste collections costs are proportion to the amount of waste each user generates. • When the cost of managing trash is hidden in taxes or charged at a flat rate, residents who recycle and prevent waste subsidize their neighbors' wastefulness.

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 6 Why PAYT?

• Single most effective tool to reduce waste and increase recycling • Towns that have adopted PAYT have reduced waste from 30%-50% • Environmental benefits – more recycling = less waste • Equitable – like utilities, you pay for what you use • Manage increasing costs to the Town

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 7 Who’s got PAYT in Massachusetts? 147 cities and towns with PAYT/SMART program

89 towns use Drop off - 58 towns use Curb side

Neighboring towns that use PAYT: • Acton – drop off • Ayer – drop off • Bolton– drop off • Concord - curbside • Groton – drop off • Hudson – drop off • Littleton – drop off • Maynard – curbside • Sudbury – drop off

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 8 Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 9 Waste disposal comparison in MA (2015)

• Average household w/o PAYT = 1710 #/Hh • Average Boxborough household = 1947#/Hh • MA Towns that use PAYT = 1092 #/Hh

In towns that adopted PAYT, solid waste tonnage was reduced by 30-50% through a combination of: • increased recycling • diversion to reuse and/or repair • donation • composting .

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 10 Where does it go?

PAYT communities often find that their Solid Waste drops significantly but the Recycling tons do not increase as much.

1. More recycling thru redemption centers, metal buyers, etc

2. More leaf, yard waste, grass and food composting

3. More donations to charity

4. More repair and reuse than replacement (more hand me downs!)

5. Some people leave trash in basement/garage refusing to pay (could also be hoarders)

6. Some people take trash to work

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 11 Where does it go?

7. Some people bring to relatives who live in non-PAYT municipalities

8. Some people with second/vacation homes bring weekday trash there or start to leave weekend trash there.

9. Some people no longer take trash from friends and family who live in PAYT municipalities.

10. Reduction in from non-residents who live in other PAYT municipalities who can no longer get away with dropping off their trash illegally on the curb.

11. Some people change their buying habits – insuring that packaging (for example) is recyclable or in some cases leave packaging in the store.

12. More people take advantage of retailers who will take back items with the purchase of a new one (e.g. sofa)

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 12 TRASH - Pounds / Household 2015

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0 Acton Concord Chelmsford Littleton Billerica Boxborough Bolton Ayer PAYT

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 13 Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 14 Next Steps

Talk to the Community

Better understand the Issues

Refine the Financial Models

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 15 Community Feedback - What We Heard (Fifers Day & Harvest Fair)

Energy Committee members spoke with +/- 25 People:

The majority were supportive, but were seeking additional information so they could digest and decide.

A handful of people were ‘strongly’ against.

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 16 What We Heard: ‘Very supportive - worth the effort to ‘I’m open but increase want to know recycling’ more’

‘I’m interested in ‘No strong opinions yet’ helping get PAYT passed’… and signed up on our email list

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 17 What We Heard: ‘people will overstuff the bags’ ‘I don’t recycle'

‘will not ‘bags not accomplish sized goals e.g push according people to to peoples curbside' needs’

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 18 Community Feedback - On Going Concerns

‘currently, seniors who take their kids trash from another town’

‘out of town residents that use the Boxborough transfer station’

‘construction contractors that use the bulky waste to discard their business trash’. We currently have no plan to charge/change this based on guidance from the BOS.

There is currently no charge for bulky waste, all we can do is enforce our existing rules (no commercial waste).

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 19 Need Base Costing

Currently, if a household has a senior (65 or older) a free sticker is provided, regardless of need.

Can we consider a more needs based solution? And how would that be implemented?

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 20 Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 21 Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 22 Proposed Program:

No sticker fee (for anyone).

The price of a Kitchen Trash Bag (15-gallon) to be $1.25/EA.

Assumes 50 (15 Gal Bags/household/week)

Last year, 923 transfer station stickers were issued. 649 were paid for 274 provided to senior households at no cost

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 23 COST MODEL – OPTION 5A

Free bags for all seniors (50 small bags for year 1)

At 30% reduction in solid waste, the program will cost the town an extra $1,406.

At 50% reduction in solid waste, the program will cost the town an extra $13,910.

Average annual cost per household: 30% reduction = $114 50% reduction = $81

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 24 COST MODEL – OPTION 5B

Free bags for low income households. This includes 87 seniors in this group (32% of senior users) should they apply

At 30% reduction in solid waste, the program will save the town an extra $10,282.

At 50% reduction in solid waste, the program will cost the town an extra $2,223.

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 25 COST MODEL – OPTION 5C

50% of all senior households (137) get free bags. This is a possibility if not all seniors opt-in to getting free bags as in Option 5B:

At 30% reduction in solid waste, the program will save the town an extra $7,157.

At 50% reduction in solid waste, the program will cost the town an extra $5,348.

Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 26 Boxborough Energy Committee 9/25/2017 27