Waste and Recycling Survey Yields Valuable Results
Submitted by the Waste and Recycling Committee
Waste & Recycling Survey Yields Valuable Results
The Waste & Recycling Committee’s (WRC) January survey—included in the annual Town Census mailing—received a robust response from Princeton residents: over 600 households answered the survey’s seven questions on paper or online.
Question 1 concerned the size trash cart residents feel they need. While many households in town currently use a 95-gallon trash cart, preferences expressed by survey respondents were split almost evenly between the three sizes offered. The 65-gallon option garnered 34% approval, the 48-gallon option 33.2%, and the 35-gallon option 32.7%. These responses suggest that a significant number of households in town feel confident that their waste disposal needs will decrease or remain fairly modest in the coming years. Given the rising cost of disposal, the narrowing of disposal options, and the state’s waste reduction goals, that is encouraging news. Unfortunately, none of the haulers interviewed by the WRC could guarantee providing a 35-gallon cart, as they are not currently in wide use, but 48-gallon and 65-gallon options are readily available.
Another encouraging trend is the number of households reporting that they compost organic waste—a practice that can reduce household trash volume by up to 28% (per US EPA). In Princeton, 44.9% of respondents report that they compost at home. That means 55% do not compost, but the EAC hopes to find ways to encourage more residents to try it in the future.
Almost three-quarters of respondents (72.4%) would be willing to pick up new carts from a preferred hauler (a one-time pickup only) at a central location, to reduce costs. Somewhat more residents favor online billing (59.9%) rather than mailed paper bills (40.2%), and a significant majority (81.3%) prefer quarterly billing to single annual payments in advance (18.8%).
Ninety-six respondents expressed interest in volunteering at the Wachusett Watershed Regional Recycle Center in West Boylston. Potential volunteers can access the WWRRC website at https://www.wachusettearthday.org/.
Finally, while 40.7% of respondents are aware of RecycleSmartMA, a website that offers advice on if and how you can recycle just about anything, nearly 60% have never visited the site. If you have a question about recycling specific materials, visit the Recyclopedia at https://recyclesmartma.org/.
To view the survey results in graph form, visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-98HLL8DK9/
The WRC hopes to release a request for proposals to interested haulers in early spring, and will be working on a draft implementation plan in the coming weeks. All WRC meetings are open to the public; dates and times are posted on the Town website on the Waste & Recycling Committee’s page: https://www.town.princeton.ma.us/waste-recycling-committee