Harvard, Mass., Considering Pay-As-You-Throw Program

Would Harvard households continue to toss an average, according to state data, of 37 pounds of trash per week into the trash compactors at the Transfer Station if they had to pay for each bag they threw? Irene Congdon, the central regional recycling coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, is betting they wouldn’t. Congdon will present a proposal at the Nov. 7 selectmen’s meeting, and she hopes the selectmen will agree to move the town to a pay-as-you-throw system by July 1, 2018.

At its Oct. 23 meeting, the Harvard Board of Health met with Congdon to discuss moving Harvard to a pay-as-you-throw system at the Transfer Station. Currently Harvard residents purchase an annual sticker that allows them to throw an unlimited number of bags of household waste into the trash compactors each week. But the state is trying to reduce the amount of household waste going to landfills or incinerators and increase recycling rates, and it is providing technical assistance and funding to towns who switch to pay-as-you-throw.