By Rod Hansen
Staff Writer

Citing the need to cut back on trash disposal costs, Goffstown’s solid waste officials are considering ways to step up recycling efforts.

The benefits of recycling are clear, said Solid Waste Commission Chairman Fred Plett. The town stands to save $30,000 in disposal costs for every 10 percent increase in recycling, he said.

Goffstown could save $90,000 in trash disposal costs if the town reaches 60 percent recycling, according to a letter from Plett in last week’s Goffstown News.

The town is at 27 percent recycling currently, Plett recently told members of the board of selectmen. This is an improvement over the 17 percent recycling rate before the town adopted its single-stream program in 2004, but still far short of its target number.

Solid waste commissioners are considering various means to increase recycling, Plett said.

While some of those plans involve education, most of them require residents to pay for disposal of non-recyclable material they throw away.

Current suggestions for lowering non-recyclable trash disposal include a pay-as-you-throw program, a residential service fee, or the use of an RFID chip to monitor residents’ waste.

Plett said Goffstown has tried to institute a pay-as-you-throw program twice before, but both times the proposal “went down in flames” with voters.

Most such programs involve special bags which residents would have to purchase from the towns. Enforcement of this policy would be difficult because the town currently retrieves its 65-gallon trash cartons from sidewalks with a mechanical arm on the side of dump trucks, Plett said.

“The biggest problem with bags is that it would require the truck drivers to monitor which residents are using the bags, and report those who aren’t,” Plett said.

However, Plett does point to significant increases in recycling in towns such as Raymond and Dover, both of which implemented pay-as-you-throw programs.

Raymond increased its recycling by 30 percent since adopting a pay-as-you-throw program, Plett said.

Goffstown may also consider adopting a subscription fee for trash pickup, Plett said. This would likely take the form of a one-time annual charge residents pay for curbside service. Under this scenario, the town might reduce the size of the non-recyclable containers to 35 gallons, while increasing the recyclable containers to 95 gallons, Plett said.

A final option would involve an RFID chip, which would monitor pickup of the nonrecyclable cartons and then charge residents a $1 fee every time one is picked up.

“That would be more fair, because people would feel like they’re getting their money’s worth,” Plett said.

The cost to the town of implementing the RFID program would include $1 per tag to be placed on the cartons, with an additional cost of $500 to $1,500 for a truck unit or $2,000 for a hand-held unit, according to research compiled by Tom Fatcheric, Goffstown’s environmental projects manager.

All of the ideas are currently in the investigative stage, Plett said. Any such change could take at least two years to coordinate.

Currently, solid waste commissioners are seeking means to encourage people to step up recycling through education, Plett said.

For example, the new “Catch people doing it right” initiative highlights local residents who are conforming to recycling standards in letters to the editor.

“The idea behind ‘Catch people doing it right’ is that, instead of punishing people for not recycling, we wanted to reward them for doing it right,” Plett said.

The commission is making a recycling DVD available to new residents at town hall. The video may also be downloaded through the town Web site at www.goffstown.com.