What Can You Do If You Have Too Much Trash?
A reader wanted to know what to do if her town-issued trash barrel just isn't big enough.
Question: Do you happen to know what to do if you have too much trash to fit in your town-provided trash barrel, if you can take it somewhere or purchase extra bags? I've always wondered what to do if I can't get my lid to close all the way!
Answer: Let's face it, some families are bigger than others and produce more trash than others. In other cases, you might have an excessive amount of trash because of a party, the holidays etc.
So for an answer we reached out to the staff in the office of the Board of Selectmen and we were provided with the following answer.
A family can rent an extra blue trash barrel at a cost of $145 per year. This can be done through the office of the Board of Selectmen.
A second option is putting out extra regular trash bags along with your barrel. Allied Waste will gladly pick up the extra bags, as long as they have a special sticker on them. These stickers can be purchased for $5 each through Allied Waste at 1-800-442-9006.
In addition, Director of Public Health Lou-Ann Clement points out that by increasing the amount being recycled you can cut down on trash levels.
"The more we recycle the more it reduces the volume of trash and could potentially reduce costs associated with trash pick-up, not to mention the need to protect our environment," said Clement.
drgnprelude
1:05 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Or you could wait for someone to move and steal there barrels like one person in our neighborhood always does
But really in one household we have 4 adults and 3 children and we make do by recycling even at parties the wrapping paper and boxes the toys come in go in one bin and the plastics in another plus all there juice boxes and cereal boxes ECT all get recycled as well so normally we very rarely go over our 2.5-3 bag limit we can fit in our barrel when we properly recycle
Mary
1:05 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
As I drive along many streets in Tewksbury on trash pickup day, I have noticed that many of the blue barrels are overflowing with the lids being unable to close. I thought one of the stipulations when we first received the barrels the trash company said that the cover had to be closed or they wouldn't pick up your trash. Has this rule changed?
Trish
2:40 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
We have a trash compactor, and always have plenty of room in our blue barrel.
BM
6:11 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
How about asking a neighbor if they have room in their barrel and see if they will let you throw any extra trash you may have in their barrel . My neighbor has kindly said to me in the past that if I accumulate any extra trash , as long as she has extra room in her barrel that I could throw it in her barrel . @ Mary : I happen to have a large family that accumulates a lot of trash so often times my barrel is overloaded . Perhaps maybe you could allow people to throw any extra trash of theirs in your barrel if you could spare the room and are concerned enough about how much trash different families generate ?