How Worcester feels about trash and recycling - and how to make it better

WORCESTER — Trash is something most people only want to think about when the time comes to leave the bags or the recycling bin on the curb, but residents and elected officials have plenty of opinions about the city's trash-collection system.

A survey of Worcester residents through inquiries on Facebook found a diversity of opinions on whether residents believe the city is clean, the quality and reliability of trash pickup in the city, and whether the city's yellow bags handle trash well.

Saying trash pickup in the city is "middling at best," resident John Keough said he dislikes the yellow bags.

"The yellow trash bags are horrible and too expensive," he said. "They rip all the time, particularly at the tie strings."

While Al Dancy said the city does a good job with trash collection and that most of the city is clean except for high foot-traffic areas, he hated the trash bags.

"There always seems to be at least one bag in the package that rips," Dancy said. "I don't fully understand why we need to use the yellow ones, and or why the city can't contract with a company that uses a better-quality bag."

Sharon Hutchins Hoffman said the city has a good trash service.

"Worcester is lucky to have great trash service," she said.

Bonnie Russell said the large yellow bags she uses hold up well in her experience: "Yellow trash bags are sturdy and hold quite a bit. We use the large. Of course, I wish they cost less. We haven't had one rip yet."

Hutchins Hoffman said factors could lead to illegal dumping of trash, such as the difficulty of disposing of bulk items for those without a car or with mobility issues and some residents not being able to afford the yellow bags.

"Many residents don't have the means to buy trash bags and surely are not going to go without food for trash bags," she said.

Russell, as well as other respondents, agreed that bulk drop-off options could be better.

While some said the new city-provided bins were an improvement from the previous bins, several residents shared experiences of the city's recycling bins being cracked when they are picked up or blown by the wind. Some said they wanted bins with wheels or made from a sturdier material.

'Operation Duct Tape'

At a Sept. 26 City Council meeting, District 1 City Councilor Sean Rose said recycling bins in his neighborhoods look like they have gone through "Operation Duct Tape."

The city has a pay-as-you-throw yellow trash bag program where residents wanting curbside pickup have to put waste in yellow trash bags that can be purchased at local retailers. A small yellow bag costs a dollar a bag and is sold in sleeves of 10, while a large bag costs $1.75 a bag and is sold in sleeves of five.

From April to November, residents can also schedule appointments to drop off bulk waste items for a fee at the residential drop-off center, or contact Casella curbside waste pickup for a per-item fee. Residents can also call other licensed haulers to do bulk pickup.

Worcester also has a municipal composting program with compost bins available for $45.

District 3 City Councilor George Russell has been particularly active in calling for the city to address perceived deficiencies in its waste-disposal system and has called for a "holistic" look at the program, including the yellow-bag system and whether a free pickup system like Boston's would entice more people to use the program.

"I'm just looking for people to be able to put out their own bags, whatever color they want it to be," Russell said.

Employees of the Parks & Recreation Department have also reported people putting household trash in park receptacles, Russell said.

$4.7M raised from sale of trash bags

A September report submitted to the City Council listed the approximate cost of producing yellow bags as $760,000. Department of Public Works & Parks Commissioner Jay Fink wrote in the report that the city generated approximately $4.7 million in revenue from the sale of yellow trash bags in fiscal 2023.

At the Sept. 19 City Council meeting, Fink said the sale of bags accounts for 40% of the entire sanitation enterprise account.

Fink said quality issues with yellow bags are usually discovered when residents open them, and that defective bags can be replaced at no cost. Responding to questions from Councilor-at-Large Morris Bergman, Fink said the amount of calls the city gets about broken trash bags does not seem to rise to the level of prodding the manufacturer on bag quality.

Fink said procurement laws require the city to take the low bid for purchasing the bag.

City Manager Eric D. Batista said the city's pay-as-you-throw program incentivizes residents to recycle, which he said is important for meeting climate and economic goals.

District 4 City Councilor Sarai Rivera also suggested a possible sliding-fee scale for purchasing yellow trash bags for people on disability, elderly residents or people on programs like SNAP.

On Sept. 26, Mayor Joseph M. Petty made orders requesting that Batista provide a strategic implementation plan to make Worcester the cleanest gateway city in Massachusetts, and to review the city’s recycling bins to determine how feasible introducing rolling bins or other bin options would be for residents living on steep hills.

Petty referenced how the recycling bins can get damaged on windy days when they are placed on steep hills.

"They're not doing what they should be doing," Petty said. "They break easily; they're less effective than we predicted they would be when we put them into place."

Rose and Russell concurred that the current recycling bins did not hold up as intended. Russell said the city could remind residents that they can leave up to 32 gallons of recycling out on the curb in various types of commercially available bins.

Batista said the city could do a better job communicating its recycling policy. Responding to a question from Russell, Batista said residents can replace broken bins or get more city bins for about $12.

Russell also brought up the trash matter again at the most recent City Council meeting, on Tuesday, and requested a report that would consider removing all fees and the requirement to purchase yellow bags. The report would also outline how trash pickup works in Boston, Providence and Hartford, where there is no service charge.

Russell said he was not looking to raise taxes to pay for the bags but to look at possibly using new growth in future budgets to fund the trash bags. He said there have been improvements to city sanitation through programs like the 311 app, but that urban core neighborhoods continue to have trash issues.

"We still have a problem in our urban neighborhoods. All you have to do is ride through those neighborhoods the day after trash day," Russell said.

Referring to the fees as a "regressive tax," Councilor-at-Large Khrystian King said he wants to do away with them and look at new growth revenues for funding.

However, Bergman said he worried that revenue would have to come from property taxes, and that making only property owners pay for trash would be less fair than the pay-as-you-throw system.

Batista said Tuesday that the city is working on a report about the trash program that will be presented at the beginning of the new year. He said the report will give recommendations and that he has been talking with the Quality of Life Team about how they can best be used for keeping the city clean.

Batista said King's suggestion to work with small nonprofits and community centers by providing them yellow bags for residents is one recommendation being discussed.

In response to T&G questions about trash and recycling, a spokesperson for the city reiterated that the municipality is evaluating the matter with plans for a report.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester residents, officials share thoughts on trash collection