The last few days have seen increased buzz surrounding the impending increase in trash fees Lowellians will likely see as part of the upcoming budget.
A recent Lowell Sun article spells out the reasons, which basically come down to increased costs. The graph below, which was included in the April 23rd packet City Councilors were provided as a “Budget Update” from the Manager’s Office, shows the cost of dealing with…ahem…”trash and recycling” has taken a sharp turn northward while the revenue (i.e. fees) the city collects to pay for trash and recycling has stayed pretty steady since 2010:
As you can see, the City of Lowell pays significantly more, millions of dollars more, than it collects in the $125 per household trash fee. And while that gap came down for a period of time when the city began providing recycling carts in 2012, the red line begins its steep ascent again around the time China stopped buying American recyclables in 2018.
In essence, Lowell got caught in a recycling “bait and switch.”
“Not only is recycling going to help save the planet,” went the paraphrased sales pitch, “it’s also going to save the city tons of money.” And the early results, as the chart shows, were certainly promising.
Then came 2018, with China deciding it was no longer going to be the world’s landfill, and the cost savings morphed into cost overruns for Lowell and everywhere else in the United States. Who could have ever predicted that?!?!?!?!
Of course by that point, we’d gone all in on recycling programs, so doing the financially prudent thing and trashing them as many other American cities did was out of the question. Even if it now costs as much, if not more, to recycle than to just toss it in the same pile. Which, by the way, is pretty much what’s happening with today’s recyclables anyway.
This is Massachusetts, after all. There’s no way we’re scrapping recycling. In fact, to show just how committed we are to wasting your tax dollars, we doubled down and instituted textile recycling laws in 2022. Contrary to my wife’s laundry day lament, my used underwear and smelly socks with holes in them are worth something after all!
So unless you’re willing to join me in going to the mattresses with the environmentalists, stop bellyaching in the Acre, bitching in Belvidere, howling in the Highlands, pouting in Pawtucketville and sulking in South Lowell.
Whether it’s through taxes or trash fees, what it’s going to cost you is going up because it has to. You fell for the bait and switch the green sales staff pulled on you, now deal with it. Saving the planet doesn’t come cheap, ya know?
Besides, wait till your hard-earned tax dollars get a load of what the food composting movement has in store for you!
One response to “Trash Fees: Going Green Costs Greenbacks”
The article linked up above gives some insight into the problem. They suggest that the problem is manifold. They mention people trying to recycle the wrong types of plastics (types of plastic a city’s service does not cover for recycling). The author refers to this as contamination. That is not the only type of contamination going into recycling.
Frequently, residents are throwing “recyclables” contaminated with excessive organic matter, like food, oils, or other waste. Some households also through out-and-out rubbish into their recycling barrels. I have also seen recycling trucks with liquid running/dripping out. This probably comes from liquids placed into barrels or barrels not closed properly in rain or snow. I can imagine that sorting out such loads, probably costs more than if it were just treated as trash.
I sometimes even notice residents through lumber into their barrels. The problem is not simply a bill of goods sold to us about “recyclable plastics”, but also our own lack of concern about what we throw into recycling barrels. Perhaps we think of recycling as a type of “free lunch”?