Attention Gilmanton Residents
Cost Of Trash Disposal Going Up, Up And Away
By Justin Leavitt, Transfer Facility Manager
The cost of disposing of
household waste is escalating all over the country. We here at the
Gilmanton Transfer Facility are doing all we can to help offset these costs,
but we need your help. Our community needs to work together to reduce our
trash. Everything you recycle serves the triple benefit of bringing in
income when it is sold; reducing the amount of trash that must be disposed
of at a rapidly increasing cost to our taxpayers; and best of all, helping
to protect our environment for our children and their children! Here are the
facts:
As of January 1, 2010, the tipping fee for Gilmanton’s household waste
will be going up from $45.90 to $62.10 a ton. (A tipping fee is the charge
levied upon a given quantity of waste received at a waste processing
facility.) That is an increase of 35% in just one year, and that figure does
not even include hauling fees of $262.00 per haul.
Gilmanton’s average tonnage per year is around 1,450 tons. At the new
rate, it will cost us $90,045 in tipping fees plus $40,872 in hauling fees
or $130,917 just to dispose of our trash.
With only 18% of our residents recycling, the profit we gain by selling
our recyclables does not come close to covering the cost of trash disposal.
At the current price for our paper, plastics and metals, we bring in around
$31,000. Here are the prices we got for our recyclables in November:
$40.00 per ton for mixed paper
$87.50 per ton for newspaper
$65.00
per ton for cardboard
$220.00 per ton for #2 plastics
$120.00 per ton
for #1 plastics
$70.00 per ton for steel cans
$1,040.00 per ton for
aluminum cans
$80.00 per ton for scrap metal
We bring in another $25,000 for the items we charge for, such as
electronics, furniture, appliances and tires. So our total income from our
operations is $56,000, less than 50% of our cost for trash disposal.
We currently send our trash to Wheelabrator in Concord but they are due
to undergo a retrofit in 2018 or the facility will be closed. At that point,
our choices would be limited to one of three: Rochester, Berlin or New York.
Any one of these choices will undoubtedly be even more costly to the town.
We have tried the voluntary method of recycling, but as we have
demonstrated, our mere 18% participation is not offsetting the escalating
costs of disposal. We would need to get our participation up to 72% to
offset our trash disposal costs, and that does not seem likely to us.
As with so many surrounding towns, we are faced with some form of
mandatory cost containment program, namely either full mandatory recycling
or a pay per throw program.
Mandatory recycling would involve close monitoring of what goes into the
compactors. Only clear plastic bags would be permitted. Additional
personnel and expansion of the recycling area would be required.
Pay Per Throw or Pay Per Bag programs require the purchase of specially
marked bags, which are priced to offset the cost of disposal of its
contents. Anything can go into the bags, except for those things that
we do not allow now, such as hazardous waste and items we charge for.
This method does not require close monitoring or facility expansion and does
tend to increase recycling. The average family of 4 that recycles only
has 1 bag of trash per week.
The writing is on the wall. We must do something. The Board of Selectmen
is considering the alternatives for implementation in 2010.
Rural Carrier Helps Reunite Father And Son After Thirty Years
Rural carrier Carole Kelley was doing what she does every
day following policy “if you know where it goes, deliver it”. In this
particular case Carol had no idea it would lead to reuniting a father and
son who had not seen one another in thirty years.
Carol received a letter addressed to William Caisse at an address that
did not exist. Instead of marking up the letter she delivered it to a
customer named William Caisse at a different address marking it with a
question mark on the envelope.
Well, not only was the letter for him it was from his son in Australia
who was trying to find him. Eric was raised in Australia by his mother who
took him there after divorcing William when Eric was three years old. At the
time they lived in Lowell, MA.
Eric, with the help of his fiancée Sandy began searching the internet in
hopes of finding Eric’s father who he always wanted to meet. Sandy’s
internet search kept coming up with a William Caisse in Gilmanton, NH, and
Eric and Sandy decided to start by sending him a letter.
Well, Eric found his father and they started corresponding on a regular
basis. Eleven months later they met for the first time in over thirty years.
Both father and son were grateful for Carol’s dedication to her job and
delivering every piece every day.
Reading for the Holidays From Gilmanton Corner Public Library
In for some reading during Christmas break from college or just want to
relax after the hectic Christmas season? Come by to borrow and curl up with
these recently donated 2009 books!!
Mystery buffs can read Vanished by Kat Richardson or Hardball by Sara
Paretsky. On the fiction shelf is The Professional by Robert Parker along
with science-fiction namely Flesh and Fire by Laura Anne Gilman, Frostbitten
by Kelly Armstrong and A Princess of Landover by Terry Brooks.
Winter hours are: Wednesdays, 3:00-5:00 and Saturdays, 10:00 to noon.