The Manager's report back on trash bin sizes

The Department of Public Works recognizes this is the among the more substantial changes to a City service that residents will see on a daily basis. More than 32,000 households in 11,000 buildings will be impacted by this change. Because of this significant roll-out of standard trash carts, DPW has done a substantial amount of research and data collection to inform the roll-out.

Furthermore, we’ve consulted with Inspectional Services Department and the City Manager office to determine how to best consider the needs of all residents in Cambridge. Approximately 60% of the households that DPW serves for trash collection are in 1-5 unit buildings, where each building will, as a default, receive between 39 and 45 gallons of trash capacity per household. The remaining 40% of households (in 6+ unit buildings) will receive, as a default, between 27 and 33 gallons of trash capacity per household.

Since the postcard announcing the change in the trash cart program arrived in mid-April, DPW has received more than 1,000 requests for changes to the default quantity or size of carts. Most of the requests(approximately 55%) asked for a decrease in volume and approximately 15% have requested an increase in trash volume. The remaining 30% have asked for different configuration of carts that equal approximately 39 to 45 gallons of trash capacity per household (i.e.

3-unit building requesting three 45-gallon carts as opposed to the default of two 65- gallon carts). At this time approximately 10% of buildings set-out trash in plastic bags, which often are the source of food for rodents, so trying to encourage these households to use carts will be a priority of DPW. What we are trying to achieve here is a balance between the immediate need to reduce access to food by rodents and the need to reduce our trash.

To encourage more residents to consider the smaller trash carts, DPW will schedule a series of social media posts and updates in our newsletter about the new trash cart program and further promote recycling and composting and ask households to choose the most appropriately sized trash bin to meet their needs while maximizing diversion. The three different bins available, (trash, recycling and compost) should be adequate to meet most disposal needs across the community.

In the long-term, DPW would like to propose changes in the Refuse and Litter Ordinance of 1991. Since the passage of this ordinance 30 years ago, a lot has changed and improving the ordinance could significantly impact our zero waste goals, rodent control goals, and reduce costs to residents.