The Lynn City Council voted 10-0 Tuesday might, with Councilor Diane Chakoutis absent, to adopt and approve new trash and recycling ordinances which will go into effect on December 1, when the city’s new trash and recycling receptacles get pressed into service by trash vendor Waste Management.
Prior to the vote, the Council held a public hearing to discuss the ordinance changes, as well as the new trash and recycling collections requirements.
Chief among the new rules is that residents and businesses will no longer be able to use their own trash cans or recycling bins. Instead all residents and business owners who are grandfathered into city trash collection, have been given a set of two trash and recycling carts. The larger cart is for recycling, which will only be picked up every other week and the smaller cart is for weekly trash collection.
According to Michael Wall of Waste Management, the program is designed to encourage more recycling by Lynn residents and businesses, and residents can request additional trash or recycling carts, at an annual charge of $132 for an additional set of carts.
Residents can also use “overflow” trash bags, which must be left on top of the trash carts, to take care of trash items that do not fit in the cart. However, only the city authorized overflow bags are allowed to be used for this purpose and those bags must be purchased from Lynn Public Works in sleeves of five bags at a cost of $3 per bag or $15 for the sleeve.
Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall also told the council that the city and Waste Management will work with residents and business owners during the first few weeks of the new collection process to make sure that everyone gets the message about the changes.
Councilor Waye Lozzi asked the Hall and Waste Management to consider allowing additional recycling containers to be leased separately for an amount less than the $132, as another way of encouraging recycling.
Hall told Lozzi “That’s an excellent idea,” and said that he would bring that idea back to Mayor Kennedy and Waste Management for further discussion.
The new Trash and Recycling regulations are available through the City Clerk’s office and the Public Works Department has hired three temporary employees to help answer questions about the new program from the public.
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