'Pay-as-you-throw' trash hearings start this week

PAWTUCKET - Representatives from the Pawtucket Public Works Department are moving forward with a plan to inform all city residents who wish to hear about a possible new pay-as-you-throw trash system here in the city.

Public information sessions start this week at city schools, say officials, even as a number of other communities, including Providence and North Smithfield, proceed with alternative waste reduction strategies of their own.

Public Works employees, in conjunction with representatives from South Carolina-based WasteZero, will share the details of a plan that could require residents to purchase and use only city-authorized trash bags, all as part of an effort to meet a 2012 deadline for cities and towns to achieve a 35 percent recycling rate.

Charging residents either $1 or $2, depending on the size of the bag, is expected to dramatically decrease the amount of trash headed to the Central Landfill. Pawtucket is currently the third worst recycling municipality in the state, according to Public Works Director Jack Carney.

The Valley Breeze reported last month that a pay-as-you-throw proposal was back on the table after discussions on the money-saving measure broke down during municipal budget hearings earlier this year. Some residents grew angry over the proposal, saying it was just another way to tax them as leaders sought to fill a budget hole.

Some City Council members have indicated to The Breeze that they're still not sold on the new system, but are willing to hear WasteZero officials out.

Arthur "Artie" Rothschild, WasteZero's manager of policy and public relations, said that the scheduled information sessions are not meant to shove the idea of a pay-as-you-throw system down the throats of Pawtucket taxpayers.

Instead, he said, residents should have the final say on a system expected to improve recycling by 43 percent.

"We are the invitee of the city of Pawtucket," said Rothschild. "These are informational sessions to inform the citizenry about what's going on. Before we get opinions, let's make sure we have all our facts."

Just two years away from higher required trash disposal fees that could cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars more in added fees from the state, leaders are considering a controversial plan to improve Pawtucket's moribund recycling rate.

City Council members agree with Rothschild that city residents need to be kept in the loop along the way toward possible new trash collection rules.

"The refined version of this is going to come from the people in the neighborhoods," said Councilor Thomas Hodge last month.

Leaders from cities and towns across Rhode Island are considering a number of tougher policies meant to improve recycling rates in advance of a 2012 deadline.

The pay-as-you-throw strategy is typically seen as a better way to improve recycling numbers than a "no bin, no barrel" policy like the one now in place in neighboring Providence, where residents early on are having trouble adjusting to a requirement that they put their recycling bin by the curb or forfeit pick-up of their trash.

In North Smithfield, officials are set to institute a modified pay-as-you-throw program this week, one that some Pawtucket citizens have said would be a more fair system, requiring residents to purchase city-authorized bags only if they exceed a two-barrel limit.

Providence officials are now trying to figure out how to deal with a new no-bin, no barrel policy put into place for the first time last week. Hundreds of full city-issued trash bins were reportedly left out across the city because residents didn't put out a recycling bin.

Officials from WasteZero will present a plan to residents they say is the absolute best waste reduction strategy out there, one that is backed by officials from Rhode Island Resource Recovery.

"It's an honor that city officials have asked us to host these WasteZero informational sessions," said Mark Dancy, president and CEO of WasteZero. "We're looking forward to speaking with Pawtucket residents about the WasteZero System and what it would mean to the future of this wonderful city."

Here are the planned times and locations for public informational sessions in Pawtucket:

* Tonight, Nov. 18, 7 p.m. at the Baldwin Elementary School, 50 Whitman St.;

* Thursday, Nov. 19, 7 p.m. at the Cunningham Elementary School, 400 Baldwin St.;

* Tuesday, Dec. 1, at the Curvin-McCabe Elementary School, 466 Cottage St.;

* Wednesday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m. at the Fallon Elementary School, 62 Lincoln St.;

* Thursday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m. at the Little Elementary School, 60 South Bend St.;

* Tuesday, Dec. 8, 7 p.m. at the Potter-Burns Elementary School, 973 Newport Ave.;

* Tuesday, Dec. 15, 7 p.m. at the Varieur Elementary School, 486 Pleasant St.;

* Wednesday, Dec. 16, 7 p.m. at the Winters Elementary School, 481 Broadway;

* Thursday, Dec. 17, 7 p.m. at the Nathanael Greene Elementary School, 285 Smithfield Ave.