BRATTLEBORO — I write to enumerate the reasons I will vote yes on pay-as-you-throw on June 29.
PAYT represents a small change in how we deal with trash. PAYT will require that we place our trash in purchased bags that cost $1 for a 15-gallon bag and $2 for a 30-gallon bag. This will pay for the tipping fee (trash disposal fee) at the landfill. Pickup will take place in the same manner and day of week as currently.
First, it provides an opportunity for each of us to take personal responsibility for what we purchase and eventually need to dispose of. Many are conscious of this, and PAYT will increase our awareness reducing the waste we generate.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, going to a PAYT system will increase recycling. Now it is too easy to put in the trash an item that really should go in the recycling bin. I firmly believe many more of us will become more aware of what can and can't be recycled and will do so. It is the only way to increase our current, abysmal recycling rate.
Third, I am concerned about the elderly and people who own their own home. Going to PAYT will in most cases cost less than keeping the current system. Voting no is a vote to increase property taxes by 2.8 percent. A home assessed for $200,000.00 results in a $151.08 tax increase.
Most one- and two-person households would produce no more than one 15-pound bag per week, keeping their costs to $52 per year. That's a savings of $100!
Fourth, I think PAYT is green and ecologically sound. We only have so much landfill space. Trash we generate now is being trucked to Moretown (just west of Montpelier and 129 miles from Brattleboro) at a disposal cost of $100 per ton.
If we reduce our trash volume, that will mean fewer trips, less fuel consumed, less cost to each of us. When this landfill is filled we will need to search for another site, most likely farther afield and more costly. PAYT give each of us control over this cost.
If the town citizens vote no, we can expect a greater percentage of future tax dollars to go toward the removal of trash. PAYT is a way to control those costs, which are currently over $325,000.
History tells us that when electricity was first introduced in the late 1800s, people paid to be on the grid but not for how much they used; when water was first available in Brattleboro, only a hook-up charge was applied. I am sure none of us would be willing to share in the cost of our neighbor's electricity or water use. We wisely want to control our own utilization of these resources and costs.
This is what PAYT will do for each of us as regards to trash.
Join me in voting for the environment, increased recycling and control over our individual costs. Vote “yes” on June 29 at the Selectboard's meeting room on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 230 Main St.