Trash and recycling costs for the Transfer Station’s operations vary widely as markets shift. Recycling sometimes costs money, and sometimes makes money. Trash costs the town many times more than recycling and is more environmentally costly.
In 2015 Acton Town Meeting approved, and the Board of Selectmen adopted, a new pricing scheme for trash disposal at the Transfer Station. The SMART (Save Money and Reduce Trash) program, commonly called PAYT (Pay As You Throw), reduces the sticker prices for the Transfer Station (TS) and ties the cost of trash disposal to the volume disposed. This happens via dedicated Acton trash bags that must be used to dispose of trash at the TS; they can be purchased aat many retail locations in Acton and nearby towns. The TS continues to charge nothing for recycling (unless one purchases a recycling-only sticker). Such systems create financial incentives for residents to reduce trash and increase recycling.
Data for the first half-year of the program should be available soon; please check back.
You can join or contact the group working on this by writing to zerowaste@greenacton.org