On Aug. 6, the Town Services and Outreach Committee of the Amherst Town Council (TSO) considered consultant Mimi Kaplan’s draft RFP and decision-point document addressing the reform of our waste hauler system based on the 2022 proposal to amend Amherst’s waste hauler bylaw. In the discussion were committee members George Ryan (Chair), Jennifer Taub, and Andy Churchill, Town Manager Paul Bockelman, DPW Superintendent Guilford Mooring, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission consultant Mimi Kaplan and Department of Environmental Protection Municipal Assistance Coordinator Susan Waite. They decided to address the major issues first.
Discussed first was whether curbside organics collection should be launched as universal and required at the outset, voluntary at first, or launched as a pilot. Universal collection is the clearest route to capturing food waste, which accounts for roughly one-third of household trash, and it is aligned with Amherst’s climate planning. But a phased or voluntary program could reduce initial cost and allow time for public education about compost collection.
The second major issue discussed was the design of a PAYT program. The principal options are a small standard trash cart supplemented by paid overflow bags; multiple cart sizes with increasingly expensive rates; or changes in pickup frequency such as biweekly trash collection. Kaplan’s framework recognizes that these choices are not merely administrative: they create different incentives. Smaller, less frequently emptied trash capacity makes it harder to continue treating garbage disposal as unlimited, particularly once recycling and organics are available at the curb. Kaplan recommended the small weekly trash cart with paid overflow bags but also thought biweekly collection of the small cart should be offered for those many households who dispose of very little waste.
Recycling design was another consequential choice. Single-stream collection is generally simpler for residents and may be cheaper, but it can produce higher contamination. Dual-stream collection — separating paper from containers — can yield cleaner material and better recovery outcomes, though it may require more complex collection arrangements. The RFP as drafted doesn’t consider dual stream recycling and that was not explained during the meeting.
Finally, TSO did not reach the topic of the Transfer Station. About 27% of Amherst households currently use it, and it provides services beyond ordinary garbage collection, including compost drop-off, bulky waste, and hard-to-recycle materials recycling. Choices regarding the Transfer Station range from retaining broad access with revised fees to limiting it to specialty materials and adding a modest universal charge for Transfer Station support so that all residents have access to all waste reduction services.
TSO decided to continue the discussion of the decision points at its Sept. 3 meeting.
Zero Waste Amherst’s recommendations
In a public comment at the Aug. 6 meeting, Zero Waste Amherst (ZWA) stated that the RFP should favor bids that produce the greatest measurable reduction in waste and greenhouse-gas emissions — not simply the lowest immediate household price. Its recommendations create a relatively clear hierarchy among possible bids.
ZWA favors a three-year contract if universal curbside composting begins in the first year. It would recommend a five-year contract if composting begins as voluntary in years one and two and becomes mandatory in year three, with every household receiving a compost cart and substantial education occurring before universal participation. ZWA recommends a January or July 2027 launch. It also calls for contract requirements that vendors report separate Amherst-specific tonnage, waste-reduction, and emissions data, so the town can verify whether the system is achieving its stated purpose.
As for PAYT, ZWA recommended a 65-gallon trash cart collected every other week, coupled with paid overflow bags (though it prefers Kaplan’s recommendation of a weekly 35-gallon cart coupled with bags if offered with the option of biweekly and monthly trash collection). It considers this method more effective than a menu of larger and smaller priced carts because the household faces a direct financial and behavioral decision whenever its cart will not close. In ZWA’s view, a 96-gallon cart creates “creeping capacity”: households can continue to put recyclable or compostable material in the trash simply because there is room.
ZWA also urges Amherst to restore dual-stream recycling as an RFP option. It argues that the local dual-stream system can produce less contamination than single-stream processing and that alternate-week automated collection could make the system operationally feasible.
For organics, ZWA prefers an industrial composting facility rather than anaerobic digestion. Its concern is that a digester may accept only food scraps while industrial composting can take food scraps, food-soiled paper, compostable packaging, containers, and utensils. That broader acceptance is particularly significant in a college and restaurant town, where disposable food-service materials can make up a sizable share of the waste stream.
ZWA recommends that the town own the carts, using available grants where possible, while the contractor maintains and replaces them. Town ownership would reduce vendor lock-in at the end of a contract term.
ZWA recommends that the Transfer Station be retained as a core waste-reduction asset, accessible to all residents through a modest increment in the curbside fee. It recommends expanding hard-to-recycle programs, including Styrofoam, and using the station as a hauler aggregation site where that reduces truck trips and costs. Finally, ZWA recommends that the town take on primary responsibility for outreach and education, coordinated with the vendor; the vendor should reinforce those materials on carts and online and provide transparent pricing.
The key question before TSO is whether the RFP will actively favor bids that maximize waste reduction, compost diversion, recycling quality, transparent performance reporting, and long-term municipal flexibility or those that avoid resident resistance to changing habits. It will take a little time and education, but changing our consumption and waste reduction habits is what this proposal is about.
A cheaper, simpler and more climate resilient plan in the long run would be for the DPW to provide trash, recycling and compost collection and disposal. If the town owns the carts and creates a billing system, there is always the possibility of moving to that option in the future.
Darcy DuMont is a former town councilor and sponsor of the legislation creating the Amherst Energy and Climate Action Committee. She is a founding member of Zero Waste Amherst, Local Energy Advocates of Western MA, and a non-voting member of Valley Green Energy Working Group. She can be contacted at dumint140@gmail.com.