Zero Waste Amherst Urges Biweekly Trash Pickup, Fair Bidding Process in Hauler RFP
Photo: CalRecycle
The following public comment was offered at the meeting of the Town Services and Outreach Committee on October 15, 2026
Good morning, My name is Darcy DuMont and I live in District 3. I’m speaking on behalf of Zero Waste Amherst today to make some comments on best practices in the RFP and to ask some questions. I’d first like to thank Mimi Kaplan and Guilford Mooring for their work on creating the new documents together so promptly and expertly.
PREFERENCE FOR BIWEEKLY TRASH PICK UP AS DEFAULT, WITH OPTION OF WEEKLY
It looks like you have this in the new draft document but it is worth repeating.
I have a comment about the need for biweekly pick up of trash as the default option, with the option of purchasing weekly pick up for a proportionally higher cost, plus overflow bags. I went back to look at the Zero Waste Amherst Trash, Recycling and Compost Survey of 2023. That survey took a look at the trash habits of 523 residents of Amherst. Of the 232 respondents who were transfer station users, the majority (76%) visit the Transfer Station biweekly or less often. 170 members disposed of 30 gallons or less every two weeks.
Generally speaking, people producing less than 30 gallons every two weeks should not pay the same amount as those producing 30 gallons weekly. As Susan Waite said at your last meeting, waste should be looked at as a utility. The more trash you waste, the more you pay. I also see that Greenfield offers three sizes of bags – 8, 13 and 30 gallons for 1, 2 and 3 dollars, respectively.
Again, ZWA recommends biweekly pickup of a 32 gallon cart as the preferred default, with the option of weekly pick up, plus a choice of overflow bags.
PREFERENCE FOR INDUSTRIAL COMPOSTING
On the topic of the means of composting, I believe you all received my email regarding how USA has moved from taking compost to Martin’s Farm to disposing of it at an anaerobic digestion with Vanguard. I assume the fact of having a contract with Vanguard would not prevent any bidder from having a separate arrangement with Martin’s Farm Composting facility.
BOARD OF HEALTH INVOLVEMENT
Lastly, I hope there’s some discussion of how the Board of Health is going to be involved in this process, since the hauler regulations fall under their jurisdiction.
TREATING POTENTIAL BIDDERS EQUALLY
A former RFI responder and potential bidder should not have a seat at the table of this process without the town reaching out affirmatively to other potential bidders to ensure equal access.
TRANSFER STATION NUMBERS
The number of folks who use the transfer station for trash and recycling is unclear because many folks use it for compost only, recycling only (because they support dual stream recycling) or bulky waste only. According to the 2023 survey, as many as a third also subscribe to hauler service. Susan Waite suggested that the number of members disposing of trash could be estimated by the number of trash bags sold.
Zero Waste Amherst supports townwide membership in the transfer station for disposing of hard to recycle materials – bulky waste, and other services that could complement the new contract for a much smaller annual sticker fee. This would be a big savings and more convenient for many residents and would also reduce waste significantly.
NEW DOCUMENTS
I hope to get answers to these questions that were not answered during today’s meeting – regarding the new documents.
Where is preference for overflow bag pick up noted as advantageous?
Where are questions about compost containers for facilities with dumpsters? And what are the facilities with dumpsters?
Where is the preference for the means of composting as that with the largest range of materials and preference for a local composting facility?
I would have liked to been included in the discussion the committee had. If it was a possibility then it is my bad. I am a frequent flyer at the transfer station. It is very convenient for me and, I think a good value for folks who were my clients….. I am a die-hard re-use, reduce, recycle proponent for as long as time…Zero waste should be the goal and I think we could do better.
I am concerned over the possible end of the line for our transfer station and consideration of a “pay-as-you-throw system for trash, recyclables and maybe compost. We love this community resource, open to all, 3 times a week.
I support town-wide collection made easy and accessible , but adding yet more unsightly, non-degradable plastic bins throughout our town, with more trucks on the road adding pollution, noise and greenhouse gas emissions seems counterproductive as well as an infringement on our peaceful neighborhoods. The bins offer little in the way in paying less for less trash.
I would also support contributors to compost having access to the quality dirt created from our kitchen scraps.
Please consider quality of life, which has the potential to be greatly reduced without our community transfer station, along with our need for waste reduction.
Please consider the consequences of this measure, which I am assuming is to cut costs (and jobs), and move us in the right and sustainable direction; not backward.
There has been little discussion about yard waste (apologies if I’ve just missed it). I compost onsite at home but not everything will compost well and needs to go somewhere (blackberry canes, invasive species, woody material). I can’t tell if this is part of the RFP or I can continue to haul yard waste to the Transfer Station, which is my preference. Please address this or I fear we will see yard waste getting dumped in the woods.
If the landfill is closed, what happens to all the old furniture and mattresses etc. students leave behind each June?
The transfer station does a whole lot of things right. It uses dual stream recycling. It supports the Springfield MRF. It uses an effective form of PAYT though it should offer 13 gallon bags as south hadley and greenfield do. It offers disposal of compost though it now goes to an anaerobic digestion facility with USA Waste and Recycling, which doesn’t take the broad range of items like Martins Farm does. The transfer station takes a good amount of bulky, hard to recycle items but could take more, like styrofoam. It offers a place for yard waste. Many people join the transfer station even though they also subscribe to the hauler.
On the other hand, haulers provide most services based on profit not best practices in waste reduction so they’ll need to work to accommodate Amherst’s RFP . I hope we don’t bend to accommodate their practices. Just let them compete. South Hadley residents pay Republic Services $250 annually for biweekly pick up, fyi.
Biweekly pickup seems like asking for a rodent infestation problem.
I’d rather see 12 gallons go weekly than have 24 gallons go biweekly in a container that still wouldn’t be full. And from a public health standpoint, the extra truck is the lesser of two evils.
It’s not an issue of how much is in the container as much as how long you really want to have it sitting in the hot August sun — 14 days is long enough to go from recently laid eggs through the maggot stage and into adult flies. And you really do not want to encourage a rat population….
I won’t even get into how trash disposal is a regressive tax with its greatest impact upon single mothers with children. That’s a choice for people to make..
But from a public health standpoint, you really do not want to have fragrant trash in the August sun for two weeks. No….
I am curious to know if modeling has been done regarding potential lost revenue and changes in expenses at the Transfer Station under this plan and what that would mean for the future viability and prices at the Transfer Station. I would also want more info about the increased administrative burden on Town staff and how that will be factored in to costs. Maybe this has already been addressed somewhere? I also have concerns about biweekly pickup – not all trash that has an odor is compostable (take diapers and dog waste for example), and biweekly collection may not be sufficient for all residents.
My concern is what was mentioned in the Daily Hampshire Gazette article where the transfer station would no longer be available (https://gazettenet.com/2026/10/12/amherst-pay-as-you-throw-plan-could-close-transfer-station-to-household-trash/). I am one of those who Ms. DuMont cites as using the transfer station as well as USARecycle. I would not want to be in situation where I no longer have the option of the transfer station.
The draft RFP currently defines as “highly advantageous” for the town both biweekly and weekly pick up of trash. USA Waste and Recycling currently does not charge more for weekly than biweekly pick up. That would have to change in a proportional Pay As You Throw system. The whole idea is that people start thinking about what they are throwing out. How can you throw out less? There are ways to cut your trash in half, starting with diverting compostable materials.
I have subscribed with USA for biweekly trash and biweekly compost pick up for at least 8 years and have learned how to do it without any problems. I’m considering stopping the compost pick up though because I recently learned that USA is now taking the compost to a Vanguard anaerobic digestion facility where Vanguard rakes out the non food scraps, like compostable take out containers. Industrial compost facilities, like Martin’s Farm, take food scraps plus compostable containers, dirty paper, paper plates, etc. which can divert a LOT from the trash in a college/restaurant town.
For those of you worried about the closure of the transfer station, the most recent RFP was modified to state as “highly advantageous” to the town “integrating the transfer station into the overall waste management system for the Town with limited changes”. This is not final but close.
Darcy, you still haven’t told me where all the old mattresses students leave behind can be taken?
Hilda, the mattresses can be still be taken to the transfer station. The current draft language in the RFP is that the most advantageous offer for the use of the transfer station “integrates the transfer station into the overall waste management system for the Town with limited changes”. One change is using it as an aggregating site for the hauler to use. The Gazette was premature and incomplete in its coverage of that issue.
Keep the transfer station for throwing out trash! I will not put those containers by the street, where they routinely are knocked over by animals. If the transfer station is closed to regular trash, I will take my trash to the Easthampton dump rather than do roadside pickup.
Residents should retain the choice of using the transfer station to dispose of regular trash, recycling, and compost. Forcing the entire town to use curbside pickup is a big mistake. I’ve seen trash bins on their side, left for days. Curbside bins attract rodents, raccoons, skunks, bears, and other wildlife. During the summer they smell, and during the winter, with large snow deposits on the roadside, it will very difficult to use the bins. We should have a choice to continue using the transfer station.
“ Residents should retain the choice of using the transfer station to dispose of regular trash, recycling, and compost.”
Darcy, we should have the choice. We already do what you want. We compost, and we bring recyclables to transfer station along with PAYT trash. Why punish us doing the right thing just because the collector says so. The town should listen to all the people who have commented on how well the transfer station is run and keep that system in place.
Let me repeat that the Town Services and Outreach Committee have recommended keeping the transfer station open with no or limited changes. See the more recent indy article as the recommendations have changed over the course of the discussion.
https://www.amherstindy.org/2026/10/30/waste-hauler-rfp-nears-completion-as-local-landlords-voice-opposition/
Darcy thanks, we’ll see. Per your link:
“ Kaplan and Waite argued for keeping the station open but not for regular household trash and recycling. Waite suggested considering taking only overflow trash to the transfer station,”