Here is a YouTube HD video of a public comment period held by the Northampton Board of Health on proposed “Regulations for Refuse and Recycling Collection”. The hearing took place on October 19. Written comments can be sent to the Northampton Health Department Office at 212 Main Street, Northampton, MA 01060 or sent via email to hmcbride@northamptonma.gov. This video is 15 minutes long and was recorded by Lachlan Ziegler.
Quotes from video:
Armand “Buddy” Duseau, owner of waste hauling company Duseau Trucking:
“I’d like to know why you’re making this mandatory for the customers, although it’s mandatory by law. I see a little punitive action here and an effort to control behavior by the use of penalties and fines… [The enforcement language in the proposed regulations is] the usual run-of-the-mill, ‘You will do this or we’ll punish you.’ I find that part of government abhorrent.”
Karen Bouquillon, Solid Waste Management Supervisor, Northampton Department of Public Works:
“The way that I look at this is that it levels the playing field for the waste haulers in Northampton, that they all have to provide recycling services to the level that Duseau Trucking already does… You know full well there are multi-family complexes that don’t have recycling–and our current ordinance sounds nice but it doesn’t have any enforcement capability.”
Related documents:
See also:
MassDEP: “Draft 2010-2020 Solid Waste Master Plan: A Pathway to Zero Waste” (7/1/10)
Since 1990, when MassDEP issued the first Solid Waste Master Plan, the Commonwealth has made great progress, recycling 44% of the waste we produced in 2008. This is one of the best recycling rates in the nation, but its growth has leveled off and we continue to dispose of materials that have significant value and environmental impact…
Northampton recycling rate: 40%
Video: City Council Enacts Drinking Water Protection Ordinance (9/3/10)
This ordinance prohibits the establishment or expansion of landfills over aquifers or in Water Supply Protection districts. It effectively blocks the expansion of the Northampton municipal landfill as sought by the Board of Public Works.
Water Not Waste Presentation at the July 1 City Council Public Hearing (PDF)
Solid Waste Management Alternatives Study (PDF, 2.7MB)
Key Portions of the Solid Waste Management Alternatives Study
Republican: “Single-stream recycling scores big in Springfield”