By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
PUTNAM — How will the trash collection system change? The town is working out the details.
Town Administrator Elaine Sistare said the goal for the new system is that it is self-sustaining — paid for by users.
She expects that July 2024 the town will transition from the current trash sticker system (which is supplemented heavily by the town budget) to a self-sustaining bin and invoice system. “We hope to have two different options for bin sizes which will be collected every other week,” she said.
She believes that there will be a 60-gallon and a 90-gallon bin options for the system. A bin smaller than 60 gallons is unlikely because the trash will be collected by the mechanical arms on the trash truck and only so many sizes of bins are compatible with the “arms.”
The system will be designed for residents, three families or fewer. Each resident will receive an invoice for the upcoming quarter. The resident would pay the town and the town will pay the vendor. “The price today will likely be more tomorrow (in July),” she said.
Commercial and apartments/condos with more than three families will have to arrange private trash collection, she said.
Sistare said the town hopes to pass through the total cost. “We hope it won’t require tax dollars, too.” Still she expects that residents will see significant savings compared with the expensive private collection costs residents in neighboring towns experience.
Those are the broad strokes of the plan. Currently town officials are still talking to potential vendors.
She said they will have much more information for the Sept. 5 and the Sept. 18 selectmen’s meetings. “We’ll be firming it up, making decisions,” she said. After that, when the town has a successful contract, the work will begin — over the winter — on working on the details of the plan. “This allows the potential vendor to gear up, too,” she said.
In the meantime, she said, “Residents should know there will definitely be more information coming.”

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