Residents Seek to Increase Curbside Recycling Pick-Up

A proposal by Beacon Hill and Back Bay residents to increase the number of recycling days across the city was discussed as a future possibility if Bostonians begin to recycle more of their waste.

At a hearing on Thursday hosted by the City Council’s Committee on Environment and Health, Back Bay resident and neighborhood association member Sandy Gaskin said one recycling day per week is not enough for many residents living in smaller apartments or condos.

“Many buildings in the Back Bay have a very limited space to store recycled items,” she said. “As a result, many residents throw items that can be recycled in the trash and put it out on the second trash day.”

Currently, more crowded neighborhoods such as Beacon Hill, Chinatown, the North End and Bay Village have three trash pick-ups per week but only one recycling pick-up. The South End and Back Bay have two trash picks-ups and one recycling day.

Beacon Hill resident and Civic Association board member Ross Levanto said he’s spoken to many Beacon Hill residents who would be willing to give up their third trash day in return for a second recycling day. Less than half of the young professionals he interviewed utilize the third trash day, he said.

“By making recycling more accessible, it follows that rates of recycling would increase,” he added.

In the last fiscal year, Bostonians generated 260,000 tons of trash and just 26,000 tons of curbside recyclables, according to the Public Works Department. To make adding a recycling day financially feasible, residents would have to triple the amount of recyclables they put out, said Commissioner Joanne Massaro.

“Really, right now, the basic issue is cost,” she said. “It’s not just the cost of the disposal, it’s the cost of collecting.”

If all neighborhoods were reduced to two trash pick-ups per week, an extra recycling day could be added, Massaro said, but it would require agreement from many corners of the city – trash pick-up routes run across neighborhood lines and can’t be altered on a whim.

“If there’s any possibility I’d say it’s in the next few years,” she said, adding that many cities with high rates of recycling institute a pay-as-you-throw or mandatory recycling program.

“At some point we are going to have to tackle mandatory recycling,” she said. “I do not think we’re ready for that.”