Pay-as-you-throw trash removal is coming to Concord, making the city one of nearly 50 communities in the state to adopt the program. Whether you're a proponent or not, the new system starts on July 6.
We've put together an overview of the program with helpful tidbits on recycling - because under the new trash regime, the less you throw away, the more you save.
You might be asking yourself, "What exactly am I supposed to do?" Concord residents fall into one of two categories: those who bring their trash to the curb for pickup (single-family homes and multifamily homes with fewer than seven units), and those who toss it into Dumpsters (apartments and condos). Here's where things stand for each:
Do you bring your trash to the curb?
You're going to start seeing a lot more purple in your life. Starting July 6, all trash left for pickup must be in a city-approved purple trash bag. Trash bags will be available at retail outlets throughout town, including grocery stores, Home Depot, Lowes and hardware stores, starting June 22.
Wondering how much this is going to set you back? A 15-gallon bag, equivalent to 10 pounds of trash, is $1. A 30-gallon bag, equivalent to 20 pounds of trash, is $2. Bear in mind that your average kitchen-size trash container is 13 gallons. If you opt for the larger bag size, make friends with the person bench pressing at the gym, because it gets heavy. There's no limit to the number of bags you can put out each week.
To encourage recycling (and fewer purple bag purchases), recycling will be picked up weekly starting July 6. You can put your recyclables in any container you choose, as long as it's under 40 pounds. That includes trash bins, laundry baskets and even those 30-gallon barrels for you super-recyclers. Just be sure to mark your container "recyclables." You'll still need to separate paper and cardboard from other recyclables, however.
Do you bring your trash to a Dumpster?
Great, you can ignore all the talk about purple bags. It's business as usual for you where trash is concerned. But here's one thing that is changing: The city will now be charging property management companies for trash removal (there was previously no charge for this service). Properties will be billed for each full container of trash that gets hauled off. That means renters and condo owners may see an increase in rent or fees to offset the cost. Contact your property manager if you have questions about possible changes to rent and fees.
The good news is that recycling containers will be provided for apartments and condos, and there is no charge for recycling pickup. So, if you and your neighbors can reduce your trash generation, you'll reduce the cost of trash pickup for your complex. That's something your landlord will no doubt approve of.
And here's even better news for apartment and condo dwellers - your recycling is single stream, meaning you can dump all recyclables into the same container without separating them. It really doesn't get any easier than that.
A word of caution: Please do not put plastic bags in your recycling bin or package recyclables in plastic bags. Take your plastic bags to your local grocery store and recycle them there.
See? This isn't so complicated. It will just take a little adjusting. We'll have articles coming your way in upcoming editions of The Insider with tips on reducing trash generation thanks to our recycling guru, Elaine Kellerman (who we affectionately refer to as the The Recylinator). Meanwhile, if you have any questions about the program or are looking for more information, visit onconcord.com and click on the pay-as-you-throw logo. You can also call the solid waste department at 230-3912 or e-mail pwinn@onconcord.com.
Still have questions? E-mail news@theconcordinsider.com, leave a comment or write to The Concord Insider, P.O. Box 1177, Concord, NH 03302-1177. We’ll find answers and print them in an upcoming edition of The Insider.
Comments
increase the materials recycled
Having just moved to Concord from Goffstown, I'm amazed by how little materials Concord recycles. In order for pay as you throw to really work and be fair, Concord is going to have to start accepting more types of plastics for recycling.
I wonder if this will reduce
I wonder if this will reduce the taxes I already pay for trash removal service, or if the increase in revenue from the PAYT bags to the city will only go toward enforcing the PAYT system.
PAYT - PHOOEY
I grew up here as a kid and returned here in 2000. I am now ready to once again go elsewhere.
I find it difficult to stomach a 1400.00 tax increase in the middle of a recession, only to have to now to pay for trash pickup. Get a job!
What happens when we start seeing trash all over Concord
I am willing to give the PAYT a chance. Is there any avenue for revisiting PAYT if we find that trash is starting to accumulate in woods, along roadsides, in city locations? The concern I have is folks unwilling to use the system the way it is suppose to work. I am also concerned about having purple trash bags opened up by wild animals as Concord has a pretty diverse landscape from city streets to rural exposure.
Also... as I go out to make my first purchase of bags... i am looking to spend over $50.00 just to get 20 $1 bags and 15 $2 bags. I am thinking that this is definitely a pretty large increase in my taxes over an entire years usage of the PAYT system.
Week1Report: From 6 bags to 1 $1Purple Bag...Impressed!
Well I was skeptical but I am sold. I was the one who stated on 6/26 that I am willing to give PAYT a chance. So far so good. It only cost me $1 and it was pretty simple to separate the trash. I went from having on a regular basis 2 full trash cans of trash (approximately 6 to 8 bags) to having just 1 small purple bag. This was amazing! How we did it was to have our 2 children clean and separate the trash into 1 of 3 small trash holders where we use to keep just 1 previously. When the recycle would fill up we just move it to the garage. After 3 days we had to remove the 1/4 of the trash that had accumulated to the outside trash because it started to smell. Normally we use to have a trash bag a day so this never was a problem. I have to say this change has opened our eyes and we are pleased that Concord has moved forward with this program. For the recycle bins we ended up having to empty them at least once every other day and we have become more conscious of the packaging we purchase with goods we buy. Overall, this lifestyle change is pretty simple.
I have to say... I am ashamed that we have been throwing away so much recycled packaging for all of these years even though we attempted to recycle every other week when recycling was introduced over a year ago.
I am still concerned about how the city will manage folks that choose to find other places to throw their trash instead of paying for the bags. This is where my original concerns lie as I would hate to see Concord go from a very desirable and clean place to live to a place where trash is prevalent along the streets, back alleys, back roads, etc. My only hope is that there is a good plan in place to deal with this situation if it should arise without penalizing those that are complying and giving this change a chance.
Failed stupid idea
So we should put $2 non-biodegradable bags into landfills? Good idea! Do people on state get these for free? The bag reads that they are 1 time use. I'd like to have the trash man dump the bag and let me use it again. That would be Green! This is a punishment for those who are already recycling and have a compost. It would be less of an insult if they just stopped trash collection and told us to bring our trash to the dump ourselves! It is already a failure, at least half of the people ignored PAYT. Let's vote these idiots out of office! We Are Coming For Your Jobs!
Come on!
Perhaps the town council can next vote to have us buy $50 purple uniforms once a week for our children to wear and if they do not wear it the teachers don't have to teach the children. The adults could have to buy a purple uniform to be alowed to be out in public. We can paint our cars with expensive purple paint or we will not be allowed on the public roads. $10 for a purple mothball for the toilets in our houses or they will stop letting us flush the toilet. Maybe these government officials across the board should start being forced to take pay reductions to reflect the finantial hardship that their laws create.
PAYT enforcing
In these hard economic times, should we really be enforcing new laws that require tax payers and renters (some of which are unemployed) to purchase special bags for our trash? Is now really the best time for this?? A better idea would be to limit the amount of trash to x amount of 13 or 30 gallon bags each week. This would help those who are not recycling to do so. We are a family of 4 on a very tight budget, we already recycle all of the materials that waste management accepts, and we only throw away two 13 gallon bags per week. Now I have to spend an extra $104 a year for special bags when i already pay over $5000 a year in taxes!
It Is Working for Me
As a single individual in my own home I am finding that unless I've had a party or lots of company I can go 3 weeks before I have to put my purple bag on the curb. Now that you are requiring the citizens of Concord to be more conscious of our trash disposal and recycling habits I would love to see "packaging" be more compliant.
One request ... could you make the 30-gal bags so they actually fit properly in our trash barrels?!!
Very Skeptical
Thanks to Concord, Hampstead is now looking at this system as well. The folks here if anyone is to believe them say that our taxes will go down if we implement this system. That to me is the only way I would be willing to accept this idiotic system. I agree we all have to recycle but this is not fair to the taxpayer if taxes are not reduced as a result. Earlier this Summer, I took the Town of Hampstead to task for sending out Civil Forfeiture fines of $25.00 which did not follow the law for unlicensed dogs which they did pay back to the dog owners and if our taxes are not reduced I will surely be visiting The Town of Hampstead again if they are unfair in their handling of this. I would hope that they would send each homeowner a letter telling them how much their taxes would be reduced if we use this stupid system. I have an idea, maybe they can make the bags look like Barney the purple dinosaur and then collect money from Sesame Street!!!
Post new comment