Recycling & Solid Waste
Trash or Recycling Not Picked Up?
Here is a sample of a rejection notice you may receive if the hauler finds a problem with your trash or recyclables. This notice summarizes the primary guidelines we must enforce in order to assure that we comply with State laws, Town bylaw, and the acceptance criteria at the Eco-Springfield co-generation facility and the Materials Recycling Facility in Springfield.
— Blaire Robey, Recycling Coordinator
If you are reading this, and your trash or recycling was not picked up, it has been rejected for one of the following reasons. Please correct the problem, and put the material out on a future pick up date.
Trash and recycling requirements:
- All trash must be within a closed Town of Shutesbury bag. Unsealed bags will be rejected. Enforcement on this has been soft in the past. If you have been in the habit of leaving your bags open, or hooked over the edge of your barrel, without tying them off on trash days, you will find them left at curbside.
- Bags containing recyclables, or recyclables containing trash, will be rejected. Bags weighing more than 35 pounds, or containing yard waste, construction debris or hazardous materials, will be rejected.
- Trash and recyclables must be at roadside by 7am each Wednesday to assure pickup. Either item may be picked up first, depending on landfill hours.
- You may put out more than one bag, and bags may be placed inside a barrel, to avoid raiding by animals. Items not in Town bags will not be picked up.
- Each household receives 50 bags per year. Additional bags are available in packages of ten, for $20. Additional bags are available at the Town Hall or the Village Co-op.
- If you have a problem with pickup, or your trash was rejected and you don’t know why, call the Town Hall at 259-1214, or the Recycling Coordinator at 259-3796, so we can address the problem. You may also email this info to townadmin@shutesbury.org or recycling@shutesbury.org
- Recycling is required. A flyer listing items in the recycling program, the holiday pickup schedule, and the alternating weekly recycling schedule of paper and cardboard versus cans & bottles, is available at the Town Hall. These schedules are provided with your annual allotment.
- Recycling Containers: You may use any solid container for your recyclables."Blue boxes" are available at the Town Hall for $5 each. However, many people are now using a previous "trash barrel" for their recyclables. We also encourage the purchase and use of inexpensive department store plastic storage boxes with lids. They are often cheaper to purchase than the "blue boxes" and the lids provide protection against windy day blowout and rain.
- Your glass, plastic and waxed carton containers can be put out in any hard container which the haulers can lift and dump into the trucks.You cannot use plastic or paper bags. They contaminate the loads, and will be rejected. Stomping on milk jugs and other lightweight containers will prevent blowout from your boxes and the trucks (again, consider a lidded container), helping to keep our roadsides clean.
- Paper and cardboard recyclables are best placed at curbside in solid containers as well. However, we do allow the use of paper bags or cardboard boxes as disposable containers. Plastic bags are NOT allowed. Be sure the bags or boxes will support the weight of the contents, when lifted by the sides. Haulers report that they often have contents burst through the bottom.Help them to do their jobs efficiently, by using reliable containers. Cardboard must flattened, and larger pieces folded or cut as needed, to fit in the 3 ft square truck opening.
Thank you.
—Recycling and Solid Waste Committee