A New Take on Westwood's Trash

Come this fall, residents in Westwood will be engaged in .  

A handful of residents got a first-hand look at how the automated program will work at an informational meeting Thursday night at . 

Under the new system, each household will receive a 64 gallon trash bin that will be emptied weekly and a 96-gallon recycling bin that will be emptied every other week. The bins come at no cost to residents; for those who have more items than will fit into the barrels, residents can obtain an additional trash bin for $150 per year or an additional recycling bin at no additional cost. 

The fully-atumoated collection program will begin in the fall, marking the start of the town's five-year contract with Waste Management. At the end of that contract, the town will own the trash and recycling bins. 

Residents can deposit a wide-variety of recyclable items into the recycle bins, but should not deposit plastic bags, as they should be brought to grocery stores for special recycling. (More information on what can be recycled can be found in a PDF file attached to this article.)

The Westwood Department of Public Works is also working out plans to have special "overflow" trash bags be available at area grocery stores for $3 each. Residents can also schedule pick-up collection through Waste Management for bulk items and white goods. The cost for bulk items range between $25 and $30 per item, but officials recommend that folks look to local donation groups to pick up items at no charge. 

Yard waste collection will remain as is under the new contract, and residents can use their old trash barrels for such collection, provided the barrels are clearly marked "Yard Waste". Those wishing to dispose of their old trash barrels can do so at no cost through the Westwood DPW at a date to be determined.

Each barrel bears a serial number that is recorded to each household's address, and residents can write their address on the barrels to avoid confusion or theft, according to Jim Nocella of Waste Management.

The town is expecting to see $100,000 worth of savings per year due to trash collection and recycling efforts under the new contract.

"I know it seems like it magically leaves the curve and disappears into thin air, but our trash goes into a facility outside of Worcester called Wheelabrator Millbury," said Claire Galkowski, a member of the Westwood Environmental Action Committee, which sponsored the meeting Thursday with the Westwood Department of Public Works and Waste Management.

The Wheelabrator facility takes in close to half a million tons of trash every year from 35 towns and cities in the Commonwealth, Galkowski added. 

Recycling from town, meanwhile, goes to a Waste Management station in Avon. 

"Recycling products into new products is much better than making new products from raw materials," Galkowski said. "That is a very high energy-intensive process. Paper requires a lot of energy to make. YOu have to chop up trees into wood chips and boil it in caustic solutions so fibers break apart."

In 2011, Westwood disposed of more than 5,000 tons of trash at Wheelabrator, with an estimated average cost of $72 for every ton, according to Galkowski's calculations. The processing cost to burn the trash was close to $400,000, though there was no processing cost for recycling or yard waste. 

But the town was able to save an estimated $103,536 in 2011 by recycling, and another $40,753 for yard waste, according to Galkowski's estimates. 

"Every recycliable item that we put in recycling bin is not costing the town any money," she said. 

Recyclebank

Westwood has been chosen as the representative for the state of Massachusetts to take part in a special program known as Recyclebank. The promotion allows Westwood to join the program at no cost for the first two years, and by doing so saves close to $60,000.  

Through the program, residents who participate on the REcycle Bank website (by simply logging in and indicating their recycled items were collected each week) can receive such rewards as a 10 percent-off coupon to area stores or gift certificates.