June 11, 2010

Dear Pembroke Municipal Solid Waste Committee,

This letter is to notify you that I have no intention of paying any additional money for garbage collection, late fees, or demand fees until you have established a fair and responsible garbage and recycling collection program. After attending recent trash committee meetings and learning that rate increases are largely due to unpaid bills, and that people who do pay their bills are subsidizing those who do not, I refuse to pay any more trash bills. 

 It is absolutely absurd that you continue to provide service to people who have not paid their bill in years, and make no attempt to collect on unpaid bills. I have been a Pembroke resident for 11 ½ years, and during that time, I have always paid my bills, and also always recycled and composted. I am tired of watching my neighbors put out four or five cans a week, and not recycle knowing that they are paying (or at least being charged) the same amount as me. My family of three puts out 2 or 3 cans per month on average.

Recycling must be made compulsory, and accessible to everyone. Pembroke has one of the lowest recycling rates in the state because it is incredibly difficult and time consuming. The lack of curbside pick up, the lack of requirement to recycle, and the limited hours of the recycling center all have a negative impact on the recycling rate in Pembroke. The ridiculous state laws that require each bottle and can to be scanned and accounted for and returned to a store that sells the product, as well as the inability of the legislature to add a deposit to non-carbonated beverage containers also contribute to the low recycle rate.

Pay as you throw is the only solution that is fair to homeowners who consume, reuse, and recycle because it is based on consumption, and actual use of town services. Until Pembroke instates a pay as you throw and curbside recycling pickup policy, my family is opting out of the town garbage collection system, and will not be paying for it.


Lance Keimig
Pembroke, MA

A forum for those interested in Pembroke's trash dilemma

This blog is intended to keep Pembroke, MA residents informed about the progress, (or lack thereof) in improving the trash collection and recycling situation in town. The current system is unfair and broken. Speak up and be heard.

You may or may not know, several weeks ago, the Board of Selectmen (BoS) inherited responsibility for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW --- TRASH & RECYCLING). Previously, the Board of Health had that responsibility. With this last annual fee increase of $30, pushing the total annual cost per household to $270, lots of calls were received at Town Hall and the BoS decided they would give MSW a try. The first thing the BoS did was form a Committee.

Some members were recruited and some volunteered. I vounteered since I have been recycling since 1942 and am keenly interested in encouraging others to recycle. There are 8 other active members and two more who are intested but not currently active due to meeting conflicts. We meet every Wednesday evening at 6:30pm in Town Hall, either in the Selectman's office or the Advisory Committee room on the opposite corner of the second floor. Our meetings are open public meetings and on occasion we have inerested residents attend and chip in their two cents worth. Of course everyone is invited. An effort is made to conclude our meetings by 8:pm but some times we go longer.

TALKING TRASH is SO much fun we just can't seem to tear ourselves away from it.

Some options we have researched and discussed are;

1) PAYT (Pay As You Throw)

2) Adding curbside recycling to our current curbside trash collection & closing the Recycling Center

3) Stopping curbside completely and going to a Transfer Station for both trash and recycling

4) Getting completely out of the trash business and having all residents fend for themselves with private trash haulers.

We have certainly not come close to rendering a choice amongst our members but these are some of the topics we are considering. There are towns in Mass doing some of each of these options and there are pros and cons to each of them.

Jim McCollum,

Member, Solid Waste & Recycling Committee