Weymouth Mayor Tells Residents to Give New Trash Program a Try

Mayor Sue Kay held an informational public meeting on Tuesday night in hopes of answering all questions and concerns Weymouth residents had about the new trash program, which will begin Monday.

“Give it a try,” Kay  told residents.

The Weymouth mayor pointed to the advantages of the program saying it will be cheaper for residents and will encourage more residents to recycle.

“It’s about limiting trash and promoting recycling,” Kay said.  “It cost $100 for trash and $0 for recycling.  I don’t know how we can’t do our best to minimize that.”

The new program will cost each household or condo unit a yearly fee of $100 for trash pick-up. 

Rosemary Nolan, a solid waste coordinator for the Tri-Town Alliance of Weymouth, Braintree and Quincy said the cost of trash for other South Shore communities, runs from $160 to $300.

“Communities around us are paying anywhere from $2-$4 a bag,” Nolan said.

Mayor Kay decided back in May to go with the EZ Disposal to collect their waste.  The company will use a machine, that looks like a fork lift to carry the barrels from the sidewalks and dump them into the truck, rather than use the usual waste disposal employees who manually lift the trash bags into the truck.

In the last month, EZ Disposal distributed  two 64 gallon barrels, one for trash and one for recycling to each Weymouth household. The trash cart will have a maroon base with a maroon cover while the recycling cart will have a maroon base with a gold cover. Mayor Kay said she picked the colors because they are the high school’s town colors.

EZ Disposal will pay 50 percent of the cost of barrels while a State Grant will pay the remaining cost, Kay and Nolan explained.

Any household who requests an additional barrel, must pay an addition $150, Kay said. 

“I know big families are concerned, “ She said.  “If they absolutely can’t do it, they need to get another barrel.” 

Nolan stressed that any large items such as lawn mowers, children’s sand boxes or hazardous waste items can also be put out at no extra cost, however residents must call EZ Disposal 48 hours in advance to arrange a pickup. 

Nolan and Kay each believe the 64 gallon barrels are large enough for a week’s worth of trash.

They said the new program allows residents to put out 128 pounds of trash, plus one piece of furniture, 1 appliance, 2-3 bundles of 3-4 feet of fire wood, 3-4 rolls of carpet, yard wastes, and Christmas trees. 

During the two week after Christmas, the town will also send out additional trucks and make additional pickups.

Residents who don’t want a large barrel can also exchange their barrel for a smaller one at no cost.  They can also use their old barrels for yard waste.

Residents will not be able to leave bags outside of the barrels, Nolan told those in attendance. Residents will also have an orange tag place on their barrel if their trash lid is open or overflowing. 

Before receiving the tag, they will receive a green warning sticker.

If the resident continues to break the rules, the trash company could deny pick-up to the residence. 

Nolan also stressed that residents do not have to bring extra trash to Braintree.  They can simply just wait an additional week if they have extra trash.  Any additional trash can be dumped at the Braintree Transfer Station at a cost of 10 cents per pound, according to the Town website.

In response to the many questions about illegal dumping, Mayor Kay said the town will take extra precautions to prohibit littering.  Kay said the town is thinking of placing more cameras on roads to catch residents illegally dumping trash. Anyone caught could be fined.

Kay also said she did not know how many employees will lose their jobs from the switch to EZ Disposal.

The Weymouth Mayor also denied the rumors from many skeptics that believed she selected EZ Disposal in exchange for political funding.

“EZ Disposal did not make contributions to my political campaign,” she told residents.

She also said any resident could meet one on one with her to discuss the new trash program.