SOUTH HADLEY — Starting on July 1, South Hadley residents will no longer need to use green bags for collection, but will instead be required to utilize their new trash and recycling cart which will be delivered to each resident this month.
Each household is receiving one 64 gallon trash cart and one 96 gallon recycling cart. Residents must use the carts delivered for recycling and trash starting on July 1. No green bags will be accepted for trash collection.
Earlier in 2024, the town agreed to officially move to a new automated trash pickup service and approved a new contract with Republic Services.
South Hadley currently has manual pickup and a pay as you throw system, which includes having a person manually pick up the trash and put it in the truck. Automated pickups involve carts so that the arm attached to the truck can pick up the cart and dump it into the truck.
Town Administrator Lisa Wong said this is a big transition, but inevitable based on the trash industry.
In April 2024, the Selectboard increased the annual trash fee from $125 to $225 for fiscal year 2025.
Increasing the annual solid waste rate to $225 was to help with the cart purchase and prepare for the expected increased costs while the town worked on purchasing and assembling 13,200 carts.
In May 2024, the Selectboard officially approved a new six-year contract with Republic Services that will run until June 30, 2030.
In March, the Selectboard approved to increase the annual solid waste rate to $250 starting on July 1.
DPW Director John Broderick said he would have been fine with no rate increase for FY26, but explained that an increase would be needed for FY27 to slowly increase the end of the year fund balance and cover contractual obligations with regards to collection and disposal costs.
A recent fund appropriation of $740,000 for cart purchases has reduced the end of the year balance, according to Broderick, but no significant projects are needed in FY26.
The elimination of the green bag program has also eliminated a revenue source as the program was part of the pay-as-you-throw program incentive for residents to pay for what they produced and a per bag revenue source to keep the annual fee lower.
Broderick also explained that without the bag cost, residents are now “limited” to a 64 gallon cart of bagged trash every other week and overflow is either held until the next collection day or can be disposed at the Recycle Center with a sticker, an appointment and/or with an associated convenience and per bag fee.
The green bag annually brought in $350,000 to $400,000, which covered the cost of disposal, according to Broderick.
The new collection system will change from dual stream, separating cardboard, paper and bottles, cans and plastics, to single stream where all those items can be placed into the same cart with the orange lid.
Both carts must have the lids completely closed for collection.
Only town issued trash and recycling carts will be collected and no other carts will be allowed. Personal carts can be used for yard waste collection in the spring and fall.
Any overflow trash and recycling must be either held back until the next collection day or disposed at the recycling center.
Although the system is changing, collection days will remain the same. Recycling will be collected on the same day as your garbage and should be placed out the night before collection or no later than 6 a.m. on your scheduled collection day.
Any damaged carts will be repaired or replaced by the town at no cost to the reporting household. Residents may contact the DPW to submit an official service request.
Any readers with questions can reach out to DPW at 413-538-5033 ext. 6500 or jbroderick@southhadley.gov.
Residents can also learn more about the carts at southhadley.org.
