Gorham will start automated curbside trash collection next month
Gorham residents of single-family homes and duplexes can expect changes soon to how their garbage is collected.
Starting in September, automated arms on garbage trucks will grab town-provided trash and recycling carts and dump the contents into the back of the truck rather than an employee doing it manually.
The change, stemming from the town altering its contract with waste management company Casella, will end the pay-as-you-throw program. Residents will no longer have to buy tags for their trash bags, and will purchase bags of their choice rather than the town’s.
The cost of the new system will be incorporated into property taxes.
“Generally, the less trash we throw away, the lower our taxes will be,” Town Councilor Lou Simms said at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting. An item to amend the waste flow ordinance to allow for automated collection passed, 7-0.
Eligible residencies will be delivered two 65-gallon carts for trash and recycling from mid-August to early September, at which point the pay-as-you-throw program will officially end.
Residents should place their trash and recycling into the town-owned carts and place them at the curb by 7 a.m. on their designated collection day. The collection schedule will change from a four-day week schedule to a five-day week from Monday to Friday. Residents can check their collection day and other information about trash pickup using Casella’s “Recycle 101” app.
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Tagged: garbage collection, municipal waste
Madeleine is a community reporter for Gorham, Buxton and Standish. She started her journalism career in Vermont, where she reported for Seven Days and served as the editor-in-chief of Middlebury College's. More by Madeleine Kaptein
