Harvard’s decision to join SMART, a Massachusetts program to reduce trash, appears to be the smart move that its advocates envisioned.
During SMART’s first six months of operation, residents have tossed less household waste into town dumpsters than expected, while increasing their recycling of paper, scrap metal, and electronics. But changes in the markets for recyclable items could threaten the program’s future.
Department of Public Works Director Tim Kilhart told the Select Board Tuesday night that the town disposed of 260 fewer tons of trash in calendar 2019 than it had in all of 2018, a 23.5% reduction. And that’s in spite of the rush by residents to “clean house” in May and June before the program took effect, noted Tom Philippou, who chairs the Transfer Station Committee. During those two months alone, trash, referred to as solid waste in town reports, surged to an atypical 194 tons. When the Select Board approved the SMART program in December 2018, the Transfer Station Committee and its SMART adviser recommended the town plan for a 30% reduction for all of fiscal 2020, which ends June 30. However, if the current decline continues, Kilhart said, that number could reach 45%, a reduction of 500 tons, by June.
SMART, which stands for Save Money and Reduce Trash, is a state-sponsored program that encourages residents to recycle more and throw out less of their household refuse. With purchase of an $80 dump sticker, a household may use the Harvard Transfer Station’s dumpsters to dispose of paper, metal, plastic and other recyclables at no additional charge, but must buy the town’s official green trash bags for household waste. In prior years, purchase of a $250 sticker allowed a household to dispose of unlimited amounts of domestic refuse at no extra charge. Now, residents may toss as many bags of trash into a compactor as they wish, but they must pay for each bag: $1.00 for a 15-gallon bag and $2.00 for a 33-gallon bag. Disposing of items such as mattresses or noncommercial remodeling debris costs extra, as it always has, and requires purchase of a punch card.
Town leaders have hoped a “pay-to-throw” program like SMART would reduce the cost of trash removal and increase recycling. By joining SMART, which began July 1 and will continue for two years, the town qualified for roughly $26,500 in state funds to defray its initial cost.
But while adoption of SMART has reduced the amount of trash the town must pay to haul away, results for recyclables are mixed. The amount of comingled plastic and tin cans as well as construction debris has remained constant. Scrap metal disposal in calendar year 2019 increased by about 12,000 pounds compared to 2018, and the disposal of electronics has doubled or tripled. Glass, which is no longer separated into colored and clear bins, has dropped by about 10 tons. And while the number of “hauls” of recycled paper and cardboard has remained constant, Kilhart believes tonnage, which DPW began measuring in December, is on the rise. Until the end of 2019 when the market for many materials collapsed, hauling of paper and cardboard was free. But now the town must pay $60 a ton to have it removed.
The financial viability of the Transfer Station depends on the number of residents who sign up for the annual $80 sticker, how many town trash bags they purchase, and the amount contractors charge the town to haul solid waste and recyclables. Sales of stickers and bags are “pretty much spot on” for fiscal 2020, said Kilhart. The town has sold 1,339 stickers since June 2019 compared to 1,345 for all of calendar 2018. Sales of bags are expected to generate $112,000 in net revenue against a forecast of $115,000, and punch cards are projected to bring in $27,000, much more than the $19,720 estimated at the start of the year.
Threats to SMART’s future
But while the viability of the Transfer Station seems “safe” for this fiscal year and next, Kilhart told the board, hauling costs are a threat to its future. He has requested an additional $12,000 to cover the cost of trucking away paper and cardboard this year, and he warned that with China, India, and other countries no longer accepting American trash, when the time comes to negotiate Harvard’s next solid waste contract, prices are going to explode, doubling from the $40,000 he has requested for fiscal 2021 to an estimated $83,000 in fiscal 2022. With some compactors, dumpsters, and containers approaching 20 years in age, capital requests for their replacement seem inevitable. Kilhart has asked for a total of $202,5000 to operate the Transfer Station in fiscal 2021, but he predicts an increase to $276,930 the following year.
Still, said Philippou, “[DPW] runs a great Transfer Station.” Whatever price increases are on the horizon will affect private haulers as well as Harvard’s SMART program, and those increases will be borne by residents regardless of vendor. The Transfer Station will always be cheaper than a private hauler, said Philippou.
