Some Trash May Head To Landfills—

Waste Disposal Agreement Fixes Fees

By John Voket

Selectmen voted Tuesday night to end a seven-year administrative headache involving the way town trash is disposed, and how much haulers would pay to fund the regional waste authority that serves Newtown.

Selectmen unanimously endorsed the amendment to Newtown’s Municipal Waste Supply and Disposal Agreement that, in part, would authorize the regional waste authority to divert some town trash to one or more approved landfill sites.

The endorsement of Amendment 3 of the Municipal Waste Disposal Agreement also creates a set annual fee to be collected from trash haulers for each ton of waste processed, plus an additional fee that would contribute underwriting costs associated with operating the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority (HRRA).

Newtown is among the 11 communities served by the HRRA, and is its fourth largest annual contributor of waste, according to a recent report by the authority.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said before the meeting, that all 11 participating towns are expected to sign off on the amendment in the coming weeks. He said the new amendment caps a nearly seven-year struggle to reach an agreement that would be fair to the disposal vendor, Wheelabrator Environmental Systems, Inc, while providing an economical fixed cost per ton to carriers in addition to an approximate 90-cents-per-ton program fee that funds most of the HRRA budget.

“Under the old agreement, Wheelabrator was supposed to collect a per-ton program fee from the haulers to fund the HRRA, but no program fee was collected for several years due to ongoing issues including legal action against a Danbury hauler on behalf of the authority,” Mr Rosenthal said. “Now, the new amendment ensures the HRRA will receive a fixed program fee for each ton of trash that is processed by the authority.”

Mr Rosenthal said the fees could be adjusted up or down annually to meet the anticipated budgetary needs of the HRRA. This year’s budget calls for contributions based on a minimum tonnage of anticipated trash from all 11 participating communities combined. Program fees this year are expected to fund about $91,500 of the HRRA budget.

The calculations are based on a 1993-94 estimate of 115,284 total tons, of which Newtown is expected to contribute about 10,854 tons annually.

Pat Caruso, whose family has lived in Newtown since 1980, and who operates Associated Refuse Haulers in Newtown, said the agreement, in theory, is a step in the right direction.

“It’s seems fair to base it on a per-ton rate annual use standard,” Caruso said.

He pointed out, however, that the new arrangement fails to address the issue of private haulers who obtain an annual dumping permit for $80, but who charge a few private neighborhood residents weekly take their trash to Newtown’s transfer station.

“Our company incurs the expenses to buy and maintain special vehicles, obtain special licensing, liability and workers comp insurance as well as other mandatory overhead costs to do business,” Mr Caruso said. “I’d like to see an arrangement where even private residential transfer station users pay by the ton; that way Newtown taxpayers wouldn’t be subsidizing unregistered haulers who don’t pay much more to dump for a whole year than I pay to deliver just one ton.”

The second part of the waste disposal amendment is expected to ease the transfer of surplus waste, beyond which could be processed at regional trash-to-energy burn plants, Mr Rosenthal said.

“The original agreement stipulated all town waste be delivered to contracted trash-to-energy burn plants in either Bridgeport, Lisbon, or Peekskill, N.Y.,” Mr Rosenthal said. “These trash-to-energy plants are operated by Wheelabrator.

“The previous agreement prevented waste from being brought to landfills,” Mr Rosenthal explained. “Now, once the required amount of burnable waste has been contributed, the balance may be transferred to EPA [US Environmental Protection Agency] landfills.”

The amended agreement states that: “Wheelabrator Environmental Systems, Inc will designate from time to time to receive and dispose of acceptable waste generated by HRRA municipalities…” The landfills in question are operated either by Waste Management, Inc, a subsidiary of Wheelabrator, or other third parties, which may include other municipalities.

Acceptable waste is identified in the agreement as all household trash, garbage, rubbish, refuse, and combustible agricultural, commercial, governmental, and light industrial waste.

Mr Rosenthal said the new agreement levels the playing field, and sets a uniform standard for all participating communities, haulers, and the disposal vendor.

“We needed to negotiate a new way of doing business in order to make it economical and efficient for all parties involved,” Mr Rosenthal said. “This amendment and contract represents a compromise that ends a seven-year struggle to get us to where we are today.”