It is time for residents of Waterville to start thinking about how they will vote on trash collection and recycling. The trial year is ending quickly. Residents should look at the facts and make their decision based on data.
It is a fact that Pay as You Throw has reduced city trash from 4,400 tons to 2,000 tons. When the article in the paper showed a picture of trash in the Concourse, I hope people didn’t tie that photo to facts.
I drove down College Avenue and saw a Styrofoam cup blowing across the street. Does this mean PAYT isn’t working? We have always had areas where trash is seen. We all dislike it. We will find litter in parks and mattresses alongside houses, whether the city has purple trash bags or reverts to picking up any color bag at taxpayer expense.
The real vote in June will be to decide whether to keep PAYT, or add $430,000 in expense to the city, which already has a strained budget. I understand the plight of people, but a purple trash bag weekly costs less than a coffee or a pack of cigarettes. A tax increase will hurt a lot more.
The people against PAYT will be more energized than the people who want to continue it. If residents study the facts and believe we should keep our current trash collection system, they should say so.
I wonder if people remember the heaping piles of trash in Waterville some people had a few years back. Now homes have one or two purple bags set out along the street. Do people really believe the litter in Waterville has become a problem of society in this past year since we got PAYT? People need to study the facts, but disregard the propaganda.
Steve Soule
Waterville
Send questions/comments to the editors.
