Natick government leaders have vowed to examine many town operations as part of a broad effort to find cost savings, improve offerings, and maybe even generate new revenue, and one area up for review is recycling and trash services.
Bill Spratt, executive director of Public Works & Facilities, briefed the Select Board at its June 10 meeting (about 2 hours, 50 minutes into the recording) about what he said is affectionately called the RATS (Recycling And Trash Study) group. The group includes public works, sustainability, finance, resident and other members (include a Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection rep via a grant).
One discovery Spratt noted is that Natick is one of only three communities in the state that has town employees putting solid waste trash into its trucks (Natick does have automated pickers on trucks for recycling).
The study is a comprehensive look at the town’s residential curbside waste and recycling pick-up programs, curbside and drop-off yard waste collection, municipal and school waste and recycling, and bulk pickup. Natick is benchmarking itself vs. other communities.
“This started out really with a question: Are we doing this the right way? Are we consistent with other communities? Is this financially responsible? Is this safe? Kind of the whole gamut,” Spratt said.
Staff recruiting and retention, route optimization, and more are part of the study.
“These are things we haven’t looked at in decades,” Spratt said.
Possible outcomes could include more automation, outsourcing of services, or keeping things as they are.
The study kicked off in April, and the town is now in the data collection and benchmarking process. Recommendations will be developed in the months ahead, and Spratt anticipates returning to the board around August for data sharing and discussion. A final recommendation is expected to be brought to the Select Board by year end.
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How much will this data collection cost the tax payer and who are the
members selected to this committee.
Probably tricky to specify cost since I would assume most of these people are doing as part of their job (the DEP person is here on a grant).
Names on the working group:
Bill Spratt
Executive Director of DPW & Facilities
Ari Sky
Deputy Town Administrator-Finance
Stephen Marshall
Director of Finance & Ops of DPW & Facilities
Brian Caissie
Highway & Sanitation Supervisor
Jillian Wilson-Martin
Sustainability Director
Ann Lentell
Resident & Net Zero Committee
Bethany Bayer
Resident
Missy Hollenback
MassDEP, Municipal Assistance Coordinator (Grant Funding)
Great the Town needs to up their efforts to protect our environment and proactively address the water quality degradation @ Lake Cochituate. Along with the roadway debris that is constantly flowing into the Lake.
We all need to be conscious of that fact that everything is connected.
And we all need to do our part with a sustainability focused on a balanced relationship with our natural resources. Clean up the trash bins behind businesses and keep a clean exterior.
Be a good neighbor don’t throw debris over fences and make it someone else’s problem.
Constant improvement is a winning attitude. GET AFTER IT!!!!!!!
Thanks for the top down approach. That’s the key for success!
We have city employees picking up the trash because of the “pay as you throw” system, which is fantastic and needs to stay in place. Broader adoption of composting would help as well!