Lanesborough BOH Plans Trash and Recycling Survey
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Board of Health would like residents' opinions about trash and recycling.
On Monday, the panel discussed plans to include a questionnaire in the tax bill that is sent out in May. It would like to print out half-page surveys with an online submission option to increase the number of possible respondents.
This has to be approved by the Selectmen before implementation.
"I think it's so important to the town because of the recycling and all the people that use it," board member Francisca Hemming-Kristensen said.
Lanesborough does not provide trash or recycling pickup and there are four nearby refuse haulers that are permitted to do so: Casella Waste, Delmolino and Sons, East Adams Trucking, and Professional Disposal.
The town's website also lists a Vermont hauler, TAM Inc.
Board members feel that options for local recycling are limited, as the most popular hauler does not offer the service. Lanesborough does have a recycling center on Maple Court that operates from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.
Chair Lawrence Spatz highlighted the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection's efforts to increase recycling. MassDEP has implemented waste bans that impose prohibitions on the disposal and transfer for disposal of certain toxic materials and recyclables with the purpose of supporting the recycling industry.
"The rule of DEP is that you have to recycle your trash, you can't put your glass and your plastic and your paper in the trash, it's illegal," Spatz said.
"But they don't have any mechanism for having that happen and the way things are in town now, the hauler who has the largest number of clients does not offer recycling."
He added it is not guaranteed that everyone who uses the hauler goes to the town recycling site.
A draft of the survey begins by asking which hauler a person uses and later asks what level of service they receive. It then asks if a person has their recyclables picked up, uses the town recycling site, is satisfied with provided services in town, and if the person is aware of MassDEP's regulations.
The survey also asks residents' opinions on the idea of a more extensive transfer station with yearly use sticker and trash bag fees as well as the existing haulers offering bundled services for a single fee.
Board member Kevin Towle suggested the online option, citing a 2016 survey that generated an approximate 20 percent response rate. Spatz's original proposal to have the survey solely on paper with paid postage return was more costly.
"The thing to keep in mind about tax bills is some people don't even look at them because a lot of it is built into mortgages, they don't even look at it," Towle said.
"So at least if you have this option where that you can put an online or an electronic survey on the town website, you can try to get feedback that way."
In the spirit of the conversation, he added that the surveys submitted by paper can then be recycled afterward.
Tags: board of health, recycling,
