Board of Health member Tom McMahon is not wrong when he said of the town’s new trash collection program on Facebook recently, “We’re here now and need to move forward.”
However, McMahon is too dismissive about the value of what he called “Monday morning quarterbacking.”
Usually, when municipal government action is greeted with outcry — as the invasion of the oversized barrels has been — there are lessons to be learned. There also may be quick fixes that can ameliorate a situation, even if everyone’s issue is not solved.
To review: For months, the Board of Health has been talking about — and inviting input on — what should happen upon the expiration of the town’s current trash contract.
At a public meeting last Oct. 30, Public Health Director Andrew Petty explained that no major company was willing to bid on a contract to continue to collect the town’s trash and recycling manually. So, we’ve known for months that automated collection — and the special “toters” it requires — were coming, like it or not.
At that public meeting, Petty said he was pricing out plans that included one that would give residents the choice of either 35-gallon or 65-gallon toters for trash, along with a separate toter for recycling.
But by the time the Board of Health signed a contract to continue using Republic Services for trash collection in March, the contract was one-size-fits-all. Everyone would be getting 65-gallon trash bins and 95-gallon recycling bins.
As is now clear, many residents did not comprehend what 65- and 95-gallon toters would look like — until they landed in their driveway. McMahon may be correct that “Monday morning quarterbacking” is unproductive. But so, too, is blaming residents for paying inadequate attention, as we have seen McMahon suggest. Details about the town’s trash collection program have shifted, and especially if residents didn’t know the capacity of their current trash barrels, it was easy to miss the extent to which they would be dwarfed by the new ones.
In our view, the shock, surprise and dismay over the arrival of the barrels speaks for itself. The Health Department may think it adequately communicated the degree to which things were about to change. But the reception the new toters has received says otherwise.
The Health Department may never again oversee a town-wide change of this magnitude. But this situation should illustrate the value in going the extra mile with public outreach.
As one speaker at a recent public meeting on trash noted, other towns that have moved to automated collection mailed notices to every resident, which Petty estimated would have cost $8,000. Especially after town voters invested $2.3 million per year, forever, by passing an override to fund trash collection, a town-wide mailing would have been short money — and a wise investment.
It is also not entirely clear why the idea of allowing residents flexibility to choose the size of their barrels had to go away. Beverly, which is rolling out a similar automated collection system on the same timetable, is giving residents a choice. Those who opt for the smaller barrels are even getting a break on the cost ($200 per year, instead of $300). The Health Department now indicates that its two-person office could not handle that kind of customizable approach. If true, it’s unfortunate that possibility was floated in the first place.
Now, we have a situation where residents in the Old & Historic District, the elderly and those with mobility issues are being given priority for a limited number of smaller toters, and even residents fortunate enough to receive them may have to wait six weeks before they arrive.
The Health Department has been coy about its capacity to accommodate requests for smaller barrels. As a result, it’s hard to know the extent to which demand will outpace the supply. Perhaps it will all work out. However, the process seems destined for further bumpiness. Will there be an appeals process for those who believe they were denied smaller barrels unfairly, as there is for residents denied tax abatements?
The Health Department has expressed concerns about limited resources. But it has now created a system where it will be forced to expend those resources to assess the validity of requests for smaller barrels and prioritize their distribution. It didn’t need to be this way.
The board also gave inadequate consideration to how distasteful many residents would find the image of so many suddenly obsolete trash receptacles winding up at the Transfer Station on their way to a landfill.
We commend residents Ann Murphy and Barbara Roy, who have led grassroots efforts to “save the planet one barrel at a time” by finding new homes in Peabody for barrels still in good condition. Over 500 had been relocated as of this writing.
Sustainable Marblehead, guided by Elaine Leahy, has also been actively promoting creative reuse of discarded carts — turning them into compost bins, rain barrels and mobile storage units for tools and sports gear.
But it should not have fallen to residents to ride to the rescue. In its negotiations with Republic, the town could have insisted on a provision in the contract to work with the town to find an environmentally responsible way to dispose of trash barrels that were no longer usable. The environment was simply not a priority, it seems.
All that said, it is indeed time to “move forward.” For most people, the cost of having their trash and recycling picked up curbside weekly — about $5 per week for the median homeowner — is still a bargain. Given the rapidly changing market for trash collection services, the Board of Health deserves credit for keeping the cost manageable. Residents should reflect on whether the super-sized toters are truly an unbearable hardship or merely an inconvenience.
For its part, the Health Department can do its part to help the town “move forward” by acknowledging its contribution to the current disarray and by being as understanding and accommodating as its resources will allow as the town continues to navigate this change.
