City officials are spending $150,000 to move Boston鈥檚 trash collection toward a 鈥渮ero waste鈥� model of reuse and recycling, saying it could reduce city spending, but a neighboring city said that change can come with additional costs.
The city is calling for a consultant to study its waste collection and examine ways of reducing trash and diverting garbage elsewhere over the next nine months before ultimately making recommendations to officials. The model of zero waste, which has been adopted by San Francisco and Los Angeles, calls for finding other uses for trash instead of throwing it away or disposing of it.
Boston currently spends about $37 million a year to haul away more than 200,000 tons of trash and recycling, City Chief of Environment Austin Blackmon said, and having less trash could lower disposal costs. The city鈥檚 contracts for hauling trash and recycling will be re-bid in 2018 and Blackmon said the recommendations would likely define new guidelines and procedures for haulers, like requiring compost pickup and tracking technology.
Cambridge has a pilot curbside compost collection program affecting about 7,000 homes, according to Public Works Commissioner Owen O鈥橰iordan, and it collects seven tons of organic material a week compared to 48 tons of garbage.
He praised the program as a 鈥済ame changer,鈥� but said it has had startup costs 鈥� the city has to pay more to haul compost to a facility further away and additional trucks spending more time on the road has an environmental impact as well.
鈥淚n the short-term it鈥檚 more costly, no question,鈥� O鈥橰iordan said. 鈥淏ut if more people participate you get more leverage, reducing costs.鈥�
Blackmon said Boston could look to work with other cities and towns to reduce costs with greater participation, and said moving to a zero waste model could also boost the city鈥檚 economy by encouraging new industry 鈥� and new city contracts for those businesses.
When asked if the city would back a plan that produced less waste at more cost than the current model, Blackmon said officials were waiting for the consultant鈥檚 figures. 鈥淲e have to wait and see what the recommendations are,鈥� Blackmon said, adding the consultant will run a cost-benefit analysis. 鈥淲e鈥檇 have to see at what level, at what scale.鈥�
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