Mayor James J. Fiorentini demonstrates the use of toters.
The city will provide residents with free toters at the start of the program. Home Depot sells replacements for $74.98 each.
Haverhill residents must begin using city-supplied 64-gallon containers to dispose of trash beginning in the spring and will pay an undisclosed if they dispose of more than one “bulky” collection item weekly, Mayor James J. Fiorentini said today.
Over the objections of at least one city councilor, the city is switching from traditional trash barrels and manual trash collection to a semi-automated waste collection system operated by hauler Capitol Waste Services.
“The program is designed to improve collection efficiency, enhance performance and provides cleaner city streets and neighborhoods. It will also reduce the cost to Haverhill taxpayers of sending unnecessary trash to the Covanta waste-to-energy incinerator with estimated savings over $450,000 in the first year alone,” according to a press release.
Last June, City Councilor William J. Macek expressed concern when the trash “toters” program appeared in the budget approved by councilors.
“I think it should be implemented never, because my proposal that I brought forward was a voluntary proposal, however. The other interesting fact that was brought up is that I mentioned to the mayor we’re going to be paying more this year for a half a year of toters than we paid last year for a full year of standard, traditional waste and recycling pickup. (The) mayor said that was somewhat of a working situation with the trash company over a seven-year contract. I also asked for copies of the numbers that he said I could have, but I haven’t received them yet. Looking forward as to where we’re going to end up going budgetwise,” Macek said.
In September of 2014, Macek proposed a voluntary plan allowing residents to choose between toters or bags, reducing household disposal from three to two 35-gallon containers weekly with excess trash requiring a pay-per-bag fee and using rear feed toter tippers rather than automatic collection trucks.
Fiorentini said cost savings accrue because only one sanitation worker is required since a robotic arm will be controlled from inside the trash truck. “The sanitation worker is able to do this safely within the vehicle, unexposed to the harsh elements and without having to manually lift heavy trash carts. The new methodology will also help limit the debris and litter that often flies out of traditional garbage cans onto Haverhill’s streets and yards,” the mayor said.
Fiorentini said 97 percent of residents participating in a 400-home pilot test “preferred to use the wheeled trash cart instead of their previous method and that they would recommend the city implement this program city-wide.”
There is no cost to residents for wheeled trash carts and they are covered under a 10-year warranty, the release said. Carts will be delivered directly to each household in the spring along with a guide that details how the program works and how to use the wheeled trash cart. Only officially supplied carts will be collected on trash day. Recycling collection and methodology will not change and will continue to be picked up manually, every other week.
Residents will still be allowed to place one bulky waste item curbside, per household, per week at no charge. Bulky waste items include furniture, mattresses, tables and other similar items that don’t fit in the wheeled trash cart. The new trash collection vehicles cannot accept bulky waste items. Bulky waste items must be scheduled for special collection by calling Capitol Waste. A fee, the price of which was not announced, applies if a resident has two or more bulky items.
The city will hold public meetings in each of the five trash routes.
I don’t think the new 64 gallon trash barrels are going to work. Especially if you are single & only have 1 bag of trash each week. If we are MADE to use these new barrels, then why is it that places like Presidential Drive Apartment buildings mandated to use these also? They don’t recycle either. So sit down and think about that. We are all in this together. So let’s not make rules for some & not the others.
One of the dirty little secrets is that the city will now be regulating how much trash you will be able to throw away. Wake up people. If it doesn’t fit into the “REQUIRED” tote, you cannot throw it away. Hello ??? Are you awake yet ? See the statement: “residents will pay an ” UNDISCLOSED FEE ” IF THEY THROW AWAY MORE THAN ONE BULKY ITEM” Really ? Who pays the taxes already for trash pickup Mr. Mayor ???
Never mind the hassle during the winter months. How about cars parked on the side of the road ? You will be responsible for your tote being in the right place for the truck to pick it up or it doesn’t get emptied !!! Keep voting for this knucklehead and this is what you will get over and over again….complete lunacy. Lawrence has this program….how clean are their streets ??
A scam playing out right in front of our eyes by this lying, manipulative mayor and only ONE city council member speaks out about it….amazing!!
The whole pilot test program was a farce. Every person who participated was hand picked by mayor Taxman so that they’d provide the desired feedback he was looking for. EVERYONE who knows of the process used is aware of this. Yet only ONE city council member spoke out about it. Frightening!!!
The employees of Capital Waste who do the trash pick up are illegal aliens from other countries. None of them speak English….every city councilor knows this. If homeowners can still leave out a bulk item every week how will that reduce the employee head count per truck? So how can the labor cost possibly be any lower than it is already?? Ridiculous!!!
Yet ANOTHER acknowledgement of mayor taxman refusing to provide detailed information to a city council member when the info could be damaging to his scheming, and only ONE city council member says anything about it. On that point alone the city council should have stopped this from going forward and completely rejected this program….but only ONE of them did…..business as usual in this corrupt city!!
I have 14 uneven awkward stairs to get down… It’s almost impossible to get the barrels I currently have down the stairs! I can’t even imagine how this is going to work in the winter months. With vehicles parked on the roads in front of their homes, how will the truck be able to grab the totes without having someone to get out and position them correctly? Are they seriously supposed to be in the street? Well, at least my neighbors will have bigger trash cans to use to save their parking spots With!
Yes he is!! And just wait till the snow hits…the plows don’t push the snow back enough as it is…now add these containers in the street…Great job City Hall…luckily out taxes are not going up…ohh wait they are!?!?
This whole thing is another “Bad Sopranos episode” in Haverhill…
I like the container requirement do to plastic bags getting opened and trash strewn everywhere but requiring a specific type of container is insane.
Why cant we get these automated bins for recylcing? The current bins are much too small and it requires residents to have multiple bins hanging around their houses. With the larger bin it would create more participation in recycling therefore bringing down the cost of trash pickup.
A mega-huge recycling bin would be too cumbersome, at least for me.
on wheels, it would be the same thing as these new mega trash bins. And personally, our household generates way more recycling material than trash. I think the mayor got this one backwards.
It’s a new boondoggle from mayor-for-life!
Those wheeled trash carts are too awkward for the elderly and are even worse on stairs. And the first bitter cold snap will make them so brittle that those robotic arms will crack half of them. And since replacement bins are paid for the taxpayer, it’s going to be a lot cheaper and faster to dump your trash in vacant lots, cemeteries and the river.
Anyone taking odds how long before irate taxpayers start dumping their trash on the front lawn of casa Fiorentini?