It’s time to clean up the trash and recycling system in Needham, and the town wants residents’ help in figuring out how. An online, townwide survey will gauge residents’ preferences on waste disposal, making good on a 2022 Town Meeting vote.
The survey potentially could drive changes to Needham’s trash and recycling model, which currently requires residents to pay for private pickup or haul their waste to the Recycling and Transfer Station on Central Avenue.
“The last time the town really went out to the public for information on preferences in trash services, it probably was about 20 years ago,” said Matt DeMarrais, Needham’s superintendent of recycling and solid waste.
While the prospect of townwide trash pickup is likely the hottest-button question on the survey, especially for newer residents, the survey will try to cover the entire trash and recycling model in Needham.
“It’s just an effort to really provide services the residents want, and also make them aware of the challenges and the opportunities we have here,” DeMarrais said.
One of those challenges, for instance, is an aging building at the Recycling and Transfer Station that needs repairs.
The town is looking for a wide response to the two-week survey, which will be used by the study’s consultants, Tetra Tech, to build four potential models of service. Those options and their costs then will be presented to the Select Board. A final proposal, which could change and evolve during the review process, may later go to Town Meeting.
The changes could be as ambitious as an electric vehicle fleet for trash and recycling pickup, or as small as expanding the hours that the RTS is open to the public.
But any model presented will be a series of tradeoffs, DeMarrais said, and he hopes the survey effectively communicates that problem. “We want people to be educated on the consequences of each choice,” he said.
“If we outsource, what does that look like? What kind of controls does Needham lose when we do it with an independent company?” DeMarrais said. “But if we do it with town staff, with town vehicles, what kind of costs are associated with that?”
How those costs are distributed among residents is another tradeoff. In the current system, residents pay directly for the services they use at the RTS, but in some curbside pickup models, the costs are more diffuse.
Digging in further, more questions arise: If convenience is prioritized, will waste be disposed of less responsibly? For instance, if the RTS is no longer easily available for residents, will environmentally harmful items such as fluorescent lights or electronics be incorrectly thrown away?
The entire Northeast also is facing landfill space limitations which will increase costs for waste pickup and processing in coming years regardless of the model that Needham embraces.
“I want residents to understand what the implications are,” DeMarrais said. “It’s vitally important to get the community input. These are their tax dollars; it’s really important for people to understand how their tax dollars are spent.”
The survey also will try to gauge residents’ knowledge of how trash and recycling works in Needham. Given that the system is distinct from nearby communities with townwide pickup, residents may not know the options available to them at the RTS, such as needle disposal or mattress recycling.
“People don’t necessarily want to think about trash and recycling, but it really is an important issue,” DeMarrais said. “This is an opportunity for people to think about those costs and think about what they want to see in town.”
Working with the consultants, the town has tried to keep the survey brief, but comprehensive, DeMarrais said, and should take about 15 minutes or less.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The survey will be active from Feb. 3 to Feb. 17, and the link has been added to the town’s website.
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