AMHERST — As a revised trash hauler bylaw requiring a pay-as-you-throw system and curbside composting continues to be discussed by town officials, the Town Council could soon ask the town manager to determine whether companies will be interested in overseeing this kind of refuse and recyclable collection for Amherst residents and businesses.

“What we’re suggesting is we do a request for proposals, see what proposals we get back with real cost information, and we can do an analysis of how we can move forward in the most expeditious way,” At Large Councilor Andy Steinberg told his colleagues at Monday’s Town Council meeting.

The Town Council on Aug. 19 is expected to vote on an advisory to Town Manager Paul Bockelman in which he would be asked to issue a request for proposals under proposed General Bylaw 3.3 “Refuse Collection and Recyclable and Compostable Materials.”

The advisory would come as the Town Services and Outreach Committee, which Steinberg chairs, continues to discuss draft bylaws so the town would gain greater control of the trash and recycling system, with the hopes of creating competition as companies bid to provide these municipal services. That model was the subject of a session at the 2024 Massachusetts Municipal Association Annual Conference in January, where officials learned that competition to provide the service for the town might reduce costs to homeowners, while also cutting down on the trash being generated.

Currently, residents and businesses having two options for disposing of solid waste under the existing bylaw and regulations adopted by the Board of Health. The first option allows people to buy annual stickers for their vehicles and to buy trash bags, and then to bring garbage and recyclables to the transfer station and recycling center on Belchertown Road. The second option allows people to hire a licensed private waste hauler, with no requirement of pay-as-you-throw or collection of compostables. USA Waste and Recycling is the only company licensed by the town.

District 4 Councilor Jennifer Taub said the town has already done a survey, through a request for information, of those would be interested in serving Amherst. That yielded three responses, but there were no cost estimates provided.

Taub said the goal of revising the bylaw is “to reduce the amount of waste that Amherst sends to landfills and to be able to reduce the trash that individual households and residents discard on a weekly or biweekly basis.”

But she said it will likely still be a year or so before the Town Council is ready to adopt the new bylaw, with the need to retain a consultant to do outreach to learn what residents want from their trash hauler.

The community group Zero Waste Amherst is among those who have supported the changes to the bylaws, a continuation of work done by the former Refuse and Recycling Management Committee in 2017 and its development of a Solid Waste Master Plan

Councilors, such as District 1’s Cathy Schoen, asked whether the change in bylaws would completely eliminate the transfer station and wondered if costs being higher would stop the changes. “These are all going to matter to residents as they consider this,” Schoen said.

Taub, though, said the existing transfer station will remain open and be an option.

At Large Councilor Mandi Jo Hanneke said she needs to know if there other ways to reduce waste, such as encouraging more recycling.

During public comment, resident Katherine Appy said the changes are a key effort to reach environmental goals, but she is concerned that something with such a significant impact has advanced so far without any public input.

“I believe for the bylaw to be successfully implemented, which I really want it to be, there must be much greater community engagement and education so residents can weigh in in an informed way,” Appy said.

Shalini Bahl-Milne, a former town councilor, said there is confusion around working drafts of bylaws. Listening sessions may need to be held with the public, she said.

In a July 14 letter to the Town Council, Laura Rojo Macleod, a representative of Zero Waste Amherst, encouraged the town to put out a request for proposals: “This should be done promptly, even earlier, effectively and with all the awareness that time is of the essence to improve the waste system in town. One small action for the community is one big action for the planet. This vote may be a make or break moment for the proposal.”

A similar letter came from former Town Councilor Darcy DuMont on June 26, “Many groups across the town are hoping for adoption of the proposal so that we can both reduce trash significantly and save residents money.”

The revised bylaw could fit with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection new master plan in October 2021 that establishes a goal to reduce disposal of solid waste statewide from 5.7 million tons in 2018 to 4 million tons by 2030.

Information in a memo from the TSO Committee elaborates on benefits the sponsors see in the changes, including that having trash collection fees based on the amount of solid waste disposed would create an incentive to reduce trash, and that compostable materials should be treated the same as recyclables.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.