New 2 barrel limit

In its first step toward waste reduction in many years, the city announced recently that starting on May 14, 2018, it will be changing its trash limit policies from five barrels to two per household.  Each of the two barrels are to be no larger than 32 gallons (64 gallons total), with each weighing no more than 40 pounds (80 pounds total) when filled.

In addition, the city is contemplating some form of “Pay As You Throw” (PAYT) provision that would allow residents to purchase trash bags from the city for “overflow” trash (anything in excess of what can be contained in the two 32-gallon barrels).  Final decisions are waiting to be made regarding “overflow” bags.  There will not, however, be any change or reduction to the $100 annual trash fee charged to each dwelling with six or fewer units.

Beverly Annual Trash Fees

“Pay As You Throw” policies have been adopted by many other cities and towns as a way of making trash costs more equitable:  the more you throw out, the more bags you have to buy, the more it costs you; the less you throw out, the fewer bags you have to purchase, the less it costs you.  Communities that have adopted full pay-as-you-throw programs (no annual trash fee, but no free”gimme”  barrels, either) typically see a 25% reduction in waste and a significant increase in recycling in the first year of the program.  Below is a recent chart that places Beverly’s current 5-barrel policy and amount of waste (trash pounds per household per year) in context with other communities:

Below is the official flyer/announcement the city is distributing regarding the new 2-barrel policy.  It includes dates and places for information sessions the city has scheduled in order to educate the community on the coming changes. It should be noted that another thing that is NOT changing but is not mentioned in the flyer, is the $100 trash fee.