Dalton Health Board Pushes Recycling Reporting

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
10:52AM / Saturday, January 24, 2026Print Story | Email Story

DALTON, Mass. — The Board of Health is looking to issue an educational pamphlet on recycling to residents and waste haulers after haulers failed to report their tonnage.

The company Solid Waste Haulers was not reporting its tonnage quarterly as required. This sparked a conversation with the Green Committee about the need to educate the public about recycling.

"I don't think the residents of Dalton know that recycling is mandatory, so I think the Green Committee is going to do some education during Earth Week about the fact that recycling is mandatory," Nancy Hopper said.

The solid waste town bylaws adopted in 2020, states that all generators in town must separate recyclables whether by taking them to the transfer station, contract with a hauler, or deposit recyclables in recycling receptacles provided by owner.

According to the solid waste haulers regulations, haulers must report their tonnage to the Board of Health quarterly. They must also send out public education materials.

One out of seven haulers supplied their tonnage report and reported who is not recycling. Dave Baumann Trucking was the only one who reported tonnage and described how they report their recyclables.

"[Green Committee member] Laurie Martinelli and I are going to meet with Linda Cernik who manages Northern Berkshire Waste Management, about this issue, and how that the small haulers would be able to weigh their tonnage, and where they would do it, and then, and we were going to put that directly into a letter to give the small haulers, and then we can put it in permanent about how that they're supposed to report it quarterly," Hopper said.

The board decided to send out a letter to the waste haulers with the reiteration of the bylaws stating they must be reporting their refuse and recyclable tonnage, recycle information as well before a formal warning if they do not report their tonnage in March.

Tags: recycling,

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Fenton: Governor's Council Must Deliver for the Berkshires

Community submissionGuest Column
10:22AM / Friday, August 28, 2026

I am a Springfield lawyer running for Governor's Council and I am asking for Berkshire County residents to support me over an incumbent from North Adams.

Here's why: Last year I learned about staffing issues in our regional courts that I could not ignore. In 2025, it was reported that four of Western Massachusetts' 11 Superior Court judgeships were vacant, all at the same time. A few weeks later, that grew to five vacancies. This meant there were only six Superior Court judges serving all of Western Mass at a time when Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin, and Hampden counties had more than 100 pending homicide cases.

Those numbers were alarming to me, so I started to engage with leaders in the community who work most closely with the court system and I came to learn that these vacancies were only the tip of the iceberg here in Berkshire County.

I learned that no Superior Court or District Court judge had been appointed from the Berkshires since the current incumbent took office. As a result, there is not a single Superior Court judge who lives in the Berkshires today, and several of the District Court judges drive in from other counties to support Berkshire courts in Pittsfield, Great Barrington, and North Adams. Court staff also informed me about severe staffing shortages at the Berkshire Clerk of Courts office resulting in other counties needing to loan staff to the Berkshires just so hardworking employees can take a brief and planned summer vacation. This is not normal. These issues are a reflection of genuine problems with the Berkshire County court system and show a lack of proactive attention from our Governor's Councilor.

Instead of focusing on regional equity, I watched as the current incumbent celebrated that she has voted against the governor's nominees more than any other councilor, without much explanation as to why. Most recently, she voted against two extremely qualified former prosecutors for the Parole Board. This was despite an in-person plea from the governor and a letter of support from all the three of the district attorney's from Western Mass. Those votes do not show independence or standing up for principles, they demonstrate naivete, and an unwillingness to work with the key stakeholders.

I had seen and heard enough. I decided to jump in the race and challenge the incumbent to address these problems head-on.

I am a partner of a regional law firm. I understand our courts and the importance of having qualified, fair and hardworking judges. And I know how important it is to have judges from the Berkshires serving the Berkshires. To achieve that, you need strong relationships with the legal community and local stakeholders. You need to know how to use the power of the Governor's Council to fight forcefully for our region. And you need to be laser focused on identifying vacancies before they occur so that they can be filled quickly with local candidates.

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