After several weeks of inactivity, the Dublin Waste Reduction and Recycling Committee (WRRC) is hoping to touch base with new Transfer Station Director John McManus to determine how involved the committee should be in transfer station administration and operation.
During the Dublin Select Board meeting Monday night, committee Chair Judy Mortner and member Al Lyons gave an update on the committee’s status and its role going forward. Select Board Chair Chris Raymond noted that the board usually gets regular updates from other town boards and committees, but that the WRRC had not provided an update in “a long time.”
Mortner acknowledged Raymond’s point and said that the committee had not met since its effort to implement a pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) waste disposal system in town failed at Town Meeting in March. A PAYT system requires residents to pay per unit of trash delivered to the transfer station, either by weight or per bag. Currently, the cost of waste disposal is covered by property taxes. Mortner said she and the other members of the committee were displeased with what they felt was a significant increase in the amount of trash being delivered to the transfer station and a reduction of residents recycling.
“I think our committee’s been quite demoralized, and very unhappy with what it’s looking and feeling like at the transfer station,” Mortner said. “I feel like not only did we not pass something that would have really addressed the problem instead of sweeping it under the rug, but we’re going backward.”
Mortner said she would like for the committee to be more active, but wanted to clarify a direction for the committee first.
“I don’t want to meet just for the heck of it,” she said.
Lyons added that they spent a lot of time gathering data and doing outreach about the benefits of PAYT, but was disappointed that the program, which was put on this year’s town warrant by petition, was not supported by the Select Board or Budget Committee.
Select Board members noted they decided not to take a stance on PAYT, and instead left it to the will of the people at Town Meeting. Mortner commented that the people heard at Town Meeting were a small, vocal minority, but that much of the town supported the implementation of a PAYT program.
Raymond acknowledged the importance of the PAYT initiative to the committee, but said that he felt they spent too much time on it, and expressed his wish that the WRRC be more involved in the transfer station, especially if the committee was unhappy with how things are going there. The two WRRC members said they had not gotten in contact with McManus or familiarized themselves with the updated transfer station ordinance that the Select Board had recently put in place.
Raymond added that New Hampshire law requires town transfer stations to have a dedicated recycling committee to help with operations, but Mortner said she was more interested in the waste-reduction aspect than operating the transfer station.
Lyons said they would invite McManus to the next WRRC meeting so they can touch base and see how the committee can help at the transfer station.