Over two dozen Portsmouth residents sent PAYT violation notices

Town’s recycling rates are way up, however

By Jim McGaw
Posted 4/12/18

PORTSMOUTH — More than two dozen residents have been sent warning letters for allegedly violating the new pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) rules at the transfer station, according to Raymond …

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Over two dozen Portsmouth residents sent PAYT violation notices

Town’s recycling rates are way up, however

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — More than two dozen residents have been sent warning letters for allegedly violating the new pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) rules at the transfer station, according to Raymond Antaya, Portsmouth’s recycling coordinator.

The PAYT system, which went into effect Feb. 1, is designed to cut down on the amount of trash that’s hauled to the state landfill — and to increase recycling rates — by requiring residents to pay for the amount of trash they toss. Residents who use the transfer station must dispose of their trash in special orange bags — sold at area stores — that display the town seal.

Not everyone’s happy with the new rules, however, according to Mr. Antaya and Town Administrator Richard Rainer, Jr. 

“Most people are compliant, but we still have people who just don’t want to follow the rules,” said Mr. Rainer. “We’re seeing it in two ways: They just refuse to buy the bags and they come in with their household trash and try to throw that away. Or two, which is more clever, we’re finding a lot of people buying orange trash bags on Amazon and they’re using those in lieu of the town’s bags, so they don’t have the town seal on them. Sometimes, if the guy is not standing right there, we won’t notice it. We’re getting a lot of that.”

He said when a transfer station attendant notices that someone isn’t following the rules, the resident is sent a notice of violation.

“They get a warning, and generally they come in and settle it. After two warnings, we’ll give them a summons to Municipal Court,” Mr. Rainer said.

“I’ve sent out over two dozen (warning letters),” said Mr. Antaya.

He pointed out, however, that the notices represent only a small fraction of the more than 2,800 households that bought dump stickers.

Recycling rates way up

The good news is that the town’s recycling rates have never been higher since the PAYT system started, both men say.

According to Mr. Antaya, the recycling rate at the transfer station was 41.6 percent for March, compared to only 19.6 percent a year ago. The amount of trash produced in that same period has gone down sharply — from 264 tons in March 2017 to 138 tons last month, he said. 

That translates into big savings on the tipping fees on trash hauling charged by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation, Mr. Antaya said. “At $47.50 a ton for tipping fees, that’s almost $6,000 savings in one month,” he said.

“Our recycling is going through the roof, which is what we had anticipated, and we don’t have to pay for that,” added Mr. Rainer. “We just pay the hauling bill, and we’re saving big on the tipping fees.”

Those savings are offset somewhat by the smaller number of households that stuck with the transfer station after PAYT was implemented, as some residents chose to switch to private curbside pickup.

At this time last year, 3,461 dump stickers had been sold by the town, according to Mr. Antaya. As of Tuesday, that number was 2,812.

“That’s considerably fewer, but we do have bag sales coming in,” he said.

In addition, both Mr. Antaya and Mr. Rainer said there will be a bump in sticker sales once all the “snow birds” are back in Portsmouth. 

“If we can grab 200 or 300 more of those back, we’ll be in good shape,” Mr. Antaya said.

“We’re about where we should be,” Mr. Rainer added. “Even if we’re less, we’re generating less trash and more recycling.”

Compactor work

In other news, work to replace the trash compactor inside the town transfer station building on Hedly Street begins on Monday, April 16. 

The job may take three days to complete. (The transfer station is closed on Wednesdays.)

According to Mr. Antaya, residents will need to dispose of their regular trash in an outside bin until the job is complete. The recycling bin inside the building will operate as normal, he said.

“The reason being is that the recycling volume is now greater than the trash,” Mr. Antaya said.

Portsmouth transfer station, PAYT

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