[Sal Di Stefano]: Welcome everyone. My name is Sal DiStefano, Director of Economic Development. Thank you for joining us today as we discuss improving the cleanliness of our squares in Medford. I'm joined by Jessica Martinez, our Director of Planning and our planner of economic development, sorry, and several members of the City of Medford team. And as we are accepting people into this webinar, shortly Steve Smearday, our Director of Communications, will kick us off. So I will hand it to Steve.
[Steve]: Thank you everyone for joining us today. Like Sal said, my name is Steve Smerdy. I'm the Director of Communications for the City of Medford. Before we get into the presentation, I just wanted to mention a few things. You'll be hearing from a few different speakers outlining the City's Improving the Cleanliness of Our Squares initiative and what this will mean for your business's waste and recycling operations. So speaking today will be our Public Works Commissioner, Tim McGivern, the City's Waste and Recycling Consultants, Jeremy Drake and Gary Liss from Strategy Zero, as well as Heather Billings from Recycling Works. And you already heard from Sal, who's going to speak a little later as well. Our speaking portion will run roughly 30 to 35 minutes and a Q&A will follow. So please hold your questions until that time. During the presentation, you can post your questions in the chat, or if you prefer, during the Q&A section, you can hit the hand up emoji, which is accessible by clicking the reaction button on the bottom of your screen. Looks like a little heart, probably, or maybe a face. And I will call on you. I also wanted to note that the city will be holding square-specific meetings and going into more depth about this program beginning at the end of August. The Zoom registration links for those meetings are available at medfordma.org slash squares, and you will also find more info on this initiative at that web address. Uh, we're recording this meeting currently, and then we'll post it to that address as well. And it will also be available on Medford community media. As well as the slides that the presentation has. So, please also check, sorry, also check the chat for any additional links that we're going to be posting throughout the meeting to kind of help. Help support this so again, thank you all for being here and now I'm going to hand it off to Tim to take it over.
[Tim McGivern]: All right, thank you, Steve. Welcome, everybody.
[Jeremy Drake]: Steve, can you advance the slides? We're still seeing the title slide.
[Jeremy Drake]: Excellent. No sweat.
[Tim McGivern]: Wonderful. All right. So we'll start again. Thanks for coming. Hopefully, we provide you with some information here at a high level, and we can then spend some time with your questions. But the big question, why are you here? is really a couple of goals here that the city has. We started a transition into a new contract period, so we have all new waste contracts right now that started on July 1st. And part of the initiative is to try to transition away from public costs to get things more in line with the rest of the city, clean up the situation within the squares when it comes to disposal, trash being the major one there, as you can see. You know, and I think you're familiar, there's a variety of issues in each square when it comes to trash collection so we're going to give a good go here to try to resolve as many as we can. So, and that's that's why you're here because it is going to impact your business and how you operate. The focus for this meeting is business districts and businesses. So if you're here for some other reason, if you could refrain from questions, I really want the focus to be on the folks who run the operations at each of the businesses and squares. So a lot of those businesses are very small, I understand. A lot of them are more medium-sized. So we understand there's a business-to-business approach here. You know, one of the things that's really important that can't be stressed enough is the idea of having clean streets and having it organized and look like we know what we're doing out there when it comes to trash pickup. So that's important. The city budget is another important thing that we try to be mindful. And then fairness is another big topic here that we want to try to improve fairness and transparency. The reason this is happening now is because of the new contracts I mentioned. So the contract that you know, a municipal pickup now is going to involve compost. The broad goals of that system are to reduce our trash disposal, because that's the hardest and most costly really, increase recycling, and transition things like business districts and condominiums and other aspects of the system into a more fair and transparent type of system. So that's kind of a very high-level overview of where this started. We've been working on this for about two years or longer. And this is a critical piece here towards the final transition into the new contracts. And you're going to see timelines in this presentation. You're going to see some requirements that are new and that we are going to have to figure out how to manage. And there's obviously benefits to the new system. Hopefully the streets are cleaner. It's a more organized look. You have a solution for your business when it comes to your trash disposal and your waste disposal. And as was already mentioned, we're trying to maintain all this information in one place on the web. So as we kind of move forward, we have the square individual meetings. That information will continue to be updated. And one of the things I've been saying since the beginning, as the person who manages all these contracts, it's really important to me that there's a collaborative effort here. We do have some timeline issues, and we have some requirements that we have to get around. But the most important thing to me, and it's really how I'm trying to steer the ship, is to work with you folks. And that's why we went to the chamber early, and try to understand, try to get in your heads a little bit, and try to see if we can make a transition that works well for everybody the best that we can. So that's what brings us here today. So again, thank you, and I'll pass it off to Jeremy. Oh, this is me. Sorry. Requirements. So I mentioned some of these in my opening remarks, but this is an example as part of the transition to the cost to the private side for waste disposal, like it is in the rest of the city. One of the steps in that transition will be using city approved overflow bags. So instead of putting just white or black trash bags on the street, as of January 1st, those wouldn't be picked up anymore. Now, if you need to use bags, you're using overflow bags, the green bags, and those will be available. We're working with retailers in each square to try to get those in there. You'll hear more about that later. And the goal, you know, is to get that trash into containers eventually, but it's a transitional step. There's a couple of ordinances that we're also managing to comply with. That's the 1992 requirement for recycling, as well as the 2024 revision, which requires dual service, both trash and recycling for private haulers. So that's something that we have to contend with as well. And then the, the, the contract for trash and recycling, possibly composting services through private haulers before May 1 2025 and that's an important date, because that's when you know the city is no longer paying for those services. by May 1st, 2025. So, you know, like I said, we have enough, I think, transition material to make this effective. And first step is to get all the information we can out to you folks. So, thank you.
[Jeremy Drake]: Thank you, Tim. Hello everybody. My name is Jeremy Drake. I'm with Strategy Zero Waste Solutions. My colleague Gary and I have been working with Tim and other folks at the City of Medford on the new waste and recycling system for just about two years now. And we are really excited about all the progress that's been made on development of this new system. Wanted to walk you through the timeline starting with July of this year through to that May date that Tim just referenced. And we can talk in more detail about this when we get to the Q&A. So if any of these things raise questions for you, please mark those down and we'll be sure to answer them. So as Tim mentioned, starting July 1, 2024, Revised solid waste ordinance went into effect. So that ordinance was adopted back in December, 2023 by city council and it went into effect July 1. And that date was to coordinate with the effective date of also the city's new solid waste recycling and composting contracts. So those are all now started as of July 1. Today, July 17th, is the official day of when technical assistance begins to help businesses in the squares make it through this transition that we're talking about with this initiative. We're gonna hear more about that from Heather Billings of Recycling Works after my comments. Starting August 27th and ending September 11th, we're having a series of the square specific Zoom meetings. There's going to be one for each square. And then there's going to be one catch-up meeting for folks who, for one reason or another, missed their square-specific meeting so that they can ask questions, get some more information. And the point of having one meeting per square is that we understand that there's geographic differences and challenges to each square and to places within each square. So we want to make sure that we give proper attention to each situation. We can dig in a little deeper than we're going to get to today. And it's really going to be what you're talking with talking with Heather Billings about potential solutions. And that's where that That's really going to start. You can also start before that, as we'll learn in a few minutes. But those are the next touch points from the city as a public meeting occurrence coming up at the end of August. Tim mentioned the overflow bags. So the requirement, January 1, 2025, for folks that are still using bags for trash, will be to put trash in overflow bags that are purchased at a retailer in town. Starting in September, the city is going to work to identify retailers in each square that can sell overflow bags. So for businesses in squares, you don't have to go too far. If you're doing bags, there's going to be a store down the street where you can buy them. Two bucks a bag, rolls of five, 33 gallons per bag. You've probably seen them. If you're a Medford resident, you're probably familiar with these bags. They're the same ones that residents use for their overflow trash. September through March, the technical assistance continues with Recycling Works to help businesses and properties transition from bags and trash to containers, which could be carts or dumpsters for trash, and also to implement the recycling collection, as Tim mentioned, will be enforced starting in 2025. January 1, as we mentioned, that's when the overflow bag requirement begins for businesses that are still using bags for trash. April 1 is an important date because this is where, as Tim mentioned, there's two sides to recycling. One side is the original solid waste ordinance from 92 that said all commercial entities have to recycle in the city of Medford. That's been happening to some extent, not necessarily everywhere, and it's been happening in different ways. As we transition into this new system, it might make sense for the property that you're building is in to have a dumpster for recycling instead of setting boxes out on the street, or maybe even more appropriate than carts. And if that's true, then there's going to be a new dumpster permitting process that will begin April 1st, 2025. And so we're working through that with the Board of Health now. As you know, if you have a dumpster, those dumpsters are required to be permitted by the Board of Health. And we're working through a revision to that permitting process to bundle the permit fees for dumpsters so that if you need to get a second dumpster, For recycling, you won't pay a second fee for that dumpster. We want to make sure that you all understand that the city is working to support more recycling. We're trying to remove barriers to recycling with this, because we know recycling is more cost effective, and it's better for the city, it's better for the planet. That's part one of April 1. Part two of April 1 is the new 2024 revised ordinance that requires any trash hauler in the city of Medford to also provide recycling service. So that's a way that it's kind of a wraparound that the service is then going to finally support the requirements on businesses to recycle. Well, we can talk more about it later, but as Tim mentioned, City has new collection contracts. Waste Management, WM, is the company that's doing trash and recycling. And they do have rates set for commercial businesses in that contract that incentivize recycling. The cost of recycling service is far lower than the cost of trash. Finally, May 1, 2025, that's when the enforcement of the revised solid waste ordinance begins. That's when haulers are required to report to the city who their customers are and what services they're receiving so that the city can verify that the haulers are in compliance with the new recycling requirement. That's the timeline overview. Happy to answer any questions about it when we get to the Q&A. And for now, I will pass it over to Heather Billings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you. I am Heather Billings. I work for a nonprofit who is contracted with the state to offer the Recycling Works in Massachusetts program. And that is free technical assistance for businesses and institutions to help evaluate their waste and look at reducing, donating, and diverting materials. So what we're talking about for Medford is helping businesses look at their existing waste streams. Because if you're not already recycling, you may not know what is recyclable in the trash and what is not. So what we'll do is kind of look at what you Generate in your different businesses and the quantities and so that will help figure out what types of containers are going to work best in your establishment. And it could be a variety of things like a set up container or a car or a small dumpster or shared dumpster. So we're going to look at the service options as well available. And so, besides just what the container would look like, what are the different service providers that are available to you in the area. So we'll help with that kind of decision making. And so, talk about what materials are recyclable, and that is cardboard, kind of the box board, which is like a cereal box, newspapers, magazines, office paper, metal, glass, and plastic, bottles, jars, jugs, and tubs. And so there's resources available on the on the city website as well and on the fact sheet and frequently asked questions page about knowing what materials are recyclable. Because we want to make sure that trash goes in trash and recycling goes in recycling and that the two aren't mixed. For businesses that would like to set up a food scrap collection program for compost, we will assist with that as well. And then things like choosing a bin, where do you set it up in your establishment for the easiest use? What kind of signage are you going to use? And then support when you have questions, individual questions about, you know, how this will work in your business. Next, please. So the dates of the squares meetings are here and they are also listed on the website with the registration links. And so this will be hour long Zoom meetings to talk about the service options and solutions for the different squares. And it'll be a chance to kind of consider ideas if there are kind of space challenges in certain areas, how that might be overcome. We're gonna hear about an example from Haines Square of a pilot in a little bit. There may be some shared solution partnerships that come up in these meetings. So it'll be kind of a local, they're meant to be just local conversations for the specific squares. Next please. So to sign up for technical assistance starting today, we'll do it whichever way you're feeling comfortable. You can go on the link on the top, recyclingworks.com slash getassistance. And that's gonna bring you to a signup form. If you'd like to use the QR code, you can take your phone on the camera app and you can shine it right on the QR code. And don't take a picture of it, but just a little pop up will come up and you can go right to that link. And that's also a form. Now the form has the basics, name, address, contact information. That's what we really need. And those are required fields. And then after that, if you know other answers to things like what you generate, what services you already have, what you're interested in, you can fill those in if you'd like, but it's not required. And then feel free to contact me directly either by email or on my phone, you know, if technology isn't your thing and I'll sign up for you. And then we'll talk about how best to get you some specific assistance. And most likely it's going to be a visit. I'm going to try to stack them on one day and I have, you know, a team of people like me. So we'll figure out how to get you what you need. I'm ready for Tim. Thank you.
[Tim McGivern]: Thanks Heather. So this will be quick. We decided to see if we could get an early start in Haines Square. So there's not a ton of progress, but we have met with some of the business owners in Haines Square, and we have also identified a location for potentially a shared container system, if that's an option for some of these folks, and we get that approved with the traffic commission. So we get some legs, next steps are to, you know, to see if we can talk to the rest of the owners, especially on this block of the business, whoever leads operations really, whether it's an owner or a manager, to see if we can come up with some solutions, including a potential shared container solution system. So more to come there, but it's hopefully going to allow us to learn a little bit about some of these tools before we fully implement them elsewhere. Thank you.
[Steve]: Okay, now we're at our Q&A portion. So if anyone has any questions, you can either use the hand up emoji. Like I said, that's at the bottom. If you hit the react button, it looks like a heart and you can raise your hand or you can enter them into the chat or you could raise your hand. So if anyone has any questions, we can get started. All right, looks like no one has any questions. Want to make sure we give them time for everybody. Oh, there's a question from Kelly seeing flown. Do you have an estimate cost or will it vary by business? Tim, if you want to take that.
[Tim McGivern]: Sure, it's really going to vary by business. We have negotiated some costs in the contract that we have with waste management that businesses could take advantage of, but that's not stopping you from the free market and private haulers as well. The costs are going to vary based off of your volumes, really, whether you're one container of trash or a dumpster full of trash. So hopefully that answers your question.
[Steve]: They said, if it's variable, what is the criteria?
[Tim McGivern]: Well, volume. So, you know, do you need one container, one small container for trash? Or do you have an option for a shared container for trash because you generate such a small amount? Or if you if you have a large amount of trash, do you currently have a dumpster? Is it shared dumpsters or not? How much? Trash do you generate? How often does it get empty? So these are all kind of questions that affect cost. Right now, the situation is I think whatever gets put out in the street gets picked up.
[Steve]: And then she asked, do you have an idea of the price of the small container?
[Tim McGivern]: Jeremy, do you have that at your fingertips? Yeah, hi there, folks.
[Jeremy Drake]: So as Tim mentioned, we do have a sense of rates with WM. And so I want to stress how through the contracting process with WM, we've been able to establish an approach to rates. If you choose to go with WM as your private hauler, you will avail yourselves to the rates that we help negotiate. And what those look like are a lower cost for recycling than for trash. So for an example, the cart service, 64 gallon cart for trash, which is the standard residential size trash cart in Medford, that's 22.42 per month for weekly collection. A 96-gallon cart for recycling, also the standard Medford residential size cart, is $10 a month for weekly collection. You're paying less than 50 percent for more recycling by using the rates that the city negotiated with WM for the new contract. You may be able to find a better price with another hauler in the city of Medford. However, those recycling rates are pretty low. And the reason why they're low is because the city negotiated a deal with WM that all recycling picked up in the squares or all commercial cart service for recycling can be collected using the trucks used for the city's citywide collection route for residents. So someone's picking up residents, sorry WM is picking up recycling from residents around Hillside and there's businesses in Hillside that have WM's recycling cart service That truck will just go right past those businesses, pick those up with the same truck that's being used for the residential route, and the business doesn't pay processing. That's how we were able to get that rate so low for recycling, because you were only paying for the cost of collection. for that recycling. If you're going to go with another hauler for recycling, they would charge you for the collection cost and also the assumed processing cost for whatever they assume is in your cart. So for a month of weekly trash and recycling of this arrangement, 64-gallon trash, 96-gallon recycling through WM, the most you would pay per month would be $32.42 for that.
[Steve]: Kelly just follows up with, so this would add between $45 to $70 per month for both trash and recycling in our budget for business that have small amounts, correct?
[Jeremy Drake]: If you had a 64-gallon cart, you'd pay $22.42 a month for weekly collection and $10 a month for the 96-gallon recycling cart for weekly collection. The total cost to you to have both trash and recycling through the rates negotiated with WM is $32.42 per month.
[Tim McGivern]: If that ends up being the correct solution for that location.
[Jeremy Drake]: Exactly.
[Tim McGivern]: other solutions available shared containers is one if you generate a small amount of trash and those containers seem too big and then you have we've all we're also keeping on the table an idea of smaller bins because we've already run across some situations where the insides of buildings don't have enough space for the larger bins and the the amount of trash that's generated is very small and there's no good shared location and so Anyway, the point I'm making is that all options are still on the table as far as solutions. So this is just, these should be seen as example solutions at the moment.
[Steve]: Maybe a few people joined during that. So if anyone had other questions, let's see. Steve Pompeo asked, can multiple businesses share the WM bins?
[Jeremy Drake]: I'm happy to answer that. So thanks, Steve. That's a great question. Shared service is one possible solution here. So for example, if there's three businesses on a storefront adjacent to one another, and none of them make a whole lot of trash or recycling, then they could come together and make an agreement amongst themselves as to how they're going to handle that. If they can do one cart, like the cart scenario I described, if that would work for three businesses and they can figure out, hey, look, let's split that three ways. We each pay $10 a month, then we can have our service. Absolutely. That's part of this, what Tim is referring to as shared service approach. That requires some creative out-of-the-box thinking and would require businesses to cooperate and figure out a way to be accountable to one another and have an arrangement that everybody can live with and figure out who's paying the bill, who's paying to cover that. But it's doable. It's done in other communities. We've got some examples that we will get into in the square specific meetings about how this can be done with shared agreements and reporting to the city to make sure everybody knows what's going on. These are some of the ways that it's been done in other communities. But that's an example of how multiple business could share Any bin, could be the WM bins, it could be another bin, it could be carts, it could be dumpsters. It's more of a concept of the sharing that that's about. I think Lindsay had a question.
[XXXXXX00116_SPEAKER_01]: Hi, I'm Lindsay from Goldilocks. So just from like how to proceed as a business, we got like the letter. I didn't recognize that there was like a push for this is to help push towards recycling. So I'm glad that I attended this meeting because now I know what we're doing. because to us it's basically we called waste management right now we pay $7.50 a year we're getting quoted $3.10 a month so significant like four times what we pay now for basically the same service because we are just like the only business in our little neighborhood so they go by they pick up ours they pick up our neighbors that are in normal houses so we are getting like we're talking to waste management they're calling us it's like a wholesale situation i can't tell if we're getting the best deal and also like should we just wait till these august meetings to sign i don't want them to not pick up our trash because obviously that's gross What, what I guess is the guidance or who can I talk to.
[Tim McGivern]: Well, I think. How much trash do you generate? I mean, we can get into specifics here, but there is a, I don't believe your business is in one of the business districts that we're talking about today, but you should look at whether or not you qualify for the municipal service as a smaller resident-like business. I'm not sure how much waste you generate. But that's what you should look at. I'm not familiar enough with your business and your trash operation to know where you fall on the new contract. But for example, there's a 2,500 square foot threshold that we're using for building size, basically establishment size. And if you generate similar trash, as a resident, basically one bin of each, trash and recycling, then you may qualify for the municipal service. So things may not change for you. So I think that's important to note to answer that question.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can I just interrupt there also? Lindsay, I'm happy to talk to you. you know, directly on this, you know, maybe we can set up a time, you know, on a certain day to pop by, or we can do a video call, you know, kind of do a walkthrough that way. Sorry.
[Steve]: Yeah, I just want to mention too, that you can sign up to kind of have a one-on-one meeting with Heather at the website at medfordma.org slash squares. And I think Recycling Works will kind of run through a lot of this with you. All right, I'm trying to, there were a few questions in the chat. Sorry, just hold on a second. Kelly asked, will trash day vary or the same for everyone? Tim? Yeah.
[Tim McGivern]: It's going to depend on if you are using the waste management services, because for example, they're not, they're going to use efficiency of route. So if they're, they're traveling through a certain area, they're going to want to pick up your trash then we recycling. But if you have a, If you have a dumpster in the back of your business and you're getting it emptied however much you need it emptied, whether it's every day, every week, every two weeks, whatever those requirements are.
[Steve]: What is the deadline for businesses to sign up for the new system?
[Tim McGivern]: Do you want to put the timeline slide back up?
[Steve]: Oh, sure.
[Tim McGivern]: This is the timeline, so really by, I believe it's May, is when the full transition is complete.
[Steve]: Will there be a list of different service providers for us to choose from?
[Tim McGivern]: There's a list of the Board of Health authorized waste haulers.
[Steve]: Rudy says, from my experience, WM is overpriced and unreliable for private pickup. Okay, just more of a comment. You mentioned a 2,500-square-foot threshold. Can you please elaborate? Is this saying a 500-square-foot storefront is not eligible if it's in a 300-square-foot building with five other small stores?
[Tim McGivern]: I think your understanding is correct. So if the building as a whole is more than 2,500 square feet, then I believe you wouldn't trigger that eligibility. The other one is important to the amount of waste you generate as well as an important consideration.
[Steve]: And then when and can we have a link for the list?
[Jeremy Drake]: I'm working on that.
[Steve]: Okay, so we'll have that up on the website as well. Once again, I'll put it in the chat just so everyone. Yes, the link can be mailed to you. We have all your emails through the registration, so you can compile it that way. Okay, are there any other, oh, maybe. All right, are there any other questions? Put in the chat, you can do their hand up emoji.
[Jeremy Drake]: Just so folks know, I just pasted the link to the holler list in the chat.
[Steve]: Would you consider changing that threshold to per business since most small stores are in twenty five hundred square foot or more build buildings?
[Tim McGivern]: Well, we're going to try the the service that we've negotiated into a contract and that threshold. The reasoning is behind how buildings may be managed differently. So you may have one business building that wants to manage the garbage differently for their leases. So in order to accommodate that in the eligibility, that's where that came from. So we are going to listen to feedback. But that is what we have to work with currently. So we're going to move forward with it and see if we can make it work. And if there are flaws or critiques, we will listen and see if we need to do anything about it.
[Steve]: Any other questions? I also just want to note that we have a FAQ up on the site as well. So if there are any other follow-up questions, they may be answered there.
[Sal Di Stefano]: Steve, can I jump in for a minute? I'm wondering if Tim or Jeremy or Gary would be willing to talk just for a minute about the benefits of just overall handling waste better in our community, something that everybody will benefit. I believe I'd love to turn it over to the experts to just address that.
[Tim McGivern]: Sure, I can talk about mid for specific things and I think maybe Jeremy or Gary could talk about a little bit more of a broader views in W, but here in Medford you know we're really looking to reduce the number of ways taller trucks on the roads that that benefits everybody. That's you know less road where less space on the roads. the trash is taken up. So providing those types of efficiencies. Another thing is clean and organized. So we're a little bit behind the times on this one, and that's OK, because we've had long-term contracts. And these contracts typically can last up to 10 years. So we're entering a new 10-year phase now. So things are going to change. And when we change, we want to change for the better. So we're really looking at, you know, cleaner, better, more organized, reducing the amount of trash, reducing costs that the city has when it comes to processing that waste. So that's why you're seeing compost now as a city service. That is the way to go. You will see other communities following suit, I believe. Just the plain facts on human society waste disposal is leading us in that direction. So that's what really Medford is looking at. So the affordability, the cleaning up and organizing, the The transparency and fairness is also another big piece to this administration and making sure that there's, the contracts in place are fair and folks know exactly what we're doing and kind of removing some of the mystery to it. So there's that piece as well. So hopefully that explains it. I think Gary, Jeremy can talk about more of a national perspective on this.
[Jeremy Drake]: Yeah, I'll add a couple of pieces. So one that is not specific to Medford, but is a challenge across all of the East Coast from Worcester to New York City, rats. And bagged trash is a invitation to rats. So the Board of Health a couple of years ago approved a compost cart that has a latching lid because they know that when we take the food out of the trash and put it in the cart, it's harder for the little pests to get at it. And so that was the first step into this direction. What we now know from communities across the East Coast is that the ultimate step is getting bags off the streets if you want to deal with rats. New York City is really, the new mayor over there is on a crusade to free New York City of rats. And just this past March 1, They implemented a new rule in the city of New York that all commercial trash must be in containers. If you've ever been to New York, they're famous for their mountains of black trash bags, but that's a thing of the past now. This is the direction that cities are moving in because of the public health and the cleanliness of the city. The other piece is litter. Rats crack open bags, bags get opened, and litter can blow around. I know we've seen wind in the squares around Medford, Massachusetts. Getting that stuff out of bags and into carts or other containers also will reduce litter. So ultimately, when we improve the cleanliness of the squares, it's better for everybody. It's better for business owners if patrons aren't walking past bags of trash or litter on the streets, concerned about rats on the streets. So the rats in the litter piece are a big driver for this effort that Medford's doing in multiple communities on the East Coast.
[Gary Liss]: I would also add sustainability is definitely a part of the driver that was identified by the task force that the mayor appointed at the beginning of this process that included a variety of citizens from various backgrounds. They came up with goals for guiding the development of the new waste and recycling system for Medford, which we should probably post in this website for the business districts to provide additional clarification of overall goals. But one of them that hasn't been mentioned is sustainability and recycling more, composting more, reducing the creation of trash and minimizing the amount of trash being generated, all contribute to addressing climate change and becoming more efficient in the providing of services needed to address trash in Medford. So sustainability is definitely one of the goals that the city adopted and is important for climate change and beyond.
[Steve]: Okay, two questions here. Will Medford trucks no longer pass by the square? What about the residents? The garbage trucks?
[Tim McGivern]: Yeah, we're not saying that trucks aren't passing through the squares.
[Steve]: Most businesses in the square put their trash bins on the sidewalk on the designated trash day. If each business has different pickup days, won't this lead to trash bins being out every day?
[Tim McGivern]: That's a, we don't want to cause more problems. So, um, if, if we're landing with bins, I think there's going to be efficiencies that you see in using waste management bins. As a gentleman was mentioning the costs, you know, we, we did plan that, uh, in the negotiations. So because the, the disposal costs are covered, but not the collection costs, then that provides an efficiency, which results in lower costs for you.
[Steve]: Okay. Okay, any, oh, Steve Fabio says, I think everyone is in favor of carts versus bags. If the businesses in the squares had been allowed to use WM carts all along, they probably would have. So can these businesses now just sign up with WM for carts?
[Tim McGivern]: Well, it's a good question. I think what we're going to land on is businesses will have waste management carts and they will be picked up on the regular routes that they have. Um, it may be a little premature to say that that is the preferred solution at this point.
[Steve]: Okay. Um, okay. Any more questions? Anyone? Another one. Are there any other haulers that are being looked at as far as pricing goes?
[Tim McGivern]: No.
[Steve]: Okay, any other questions? Why not?
[Tim McGivern]: Say again?
[Steve]: Why aren't other haulers being looked at as far as pricing?
[Tim McGivern]: Well, I guess the To understand that answer a little bit better, we did consider pricing of other haulers when we did the contracting for this service. So in other words, we received bids back from a whole bunch of what theoretically was supposed to receive bids back from everybody who's interested in the project. So that's when the opportunity exists. existed for the city to review additional pricing from other contractors. So because we're a public procurement process, we went with the low bidder for the waste services, which is WM, and that is the one we were able to negotiate with. So that is what we have to offer.
[Gary Liss]: I just like to clarify that the commercial businesses can look at other haulers and that's why we mentioned earlier that there's a list that the Board of Health has and the link was put in the chat by Jeremy. Businesses are open to contact other haulers to try and get a best price for both trash and recycling services. Those best prices, you need to ensure that by May 1 of 2025, include both trash and recycling services. Jeremy highlighted earlier, you might be able to get a lower trash rate, but not necessarily a lower recycling rate for the reasons already explained.
[Jeremy Drake]: There are co-benefits to going with WM for the services in the squares, right? If there's one truck for trash, as there not necessarily is now. I mean, there's businesses that require more than one day of trash service. I've seen lots of pictures of Republic dumpsters in the squares. So WM is not the only hauler servicing squares presently. However, you know, a move where everybody's using the same hauler would reduce the number of trash trucks that are driving around in the squares day to day. So that's something to consider, you know, as kind of like, if you consider the square as a community of businesses, like what's the best solution for the community, as well as what's the best solution for each individual business.
[Steve]: Tim, could you just elaborate a little bit more on, Kelly had a question that if each business has different pickup days, won't this lead to trash bins out every day? I think she's concerned that people will continually pass by trash outside.
[Jeremy Drake]: And that's what I was just getting at, right? If everybody does use WM, you know when your trash is going to be set out. If you're using carts, they're going to pick up carts on Tuesday morning, just like they do now. If your neighbor decides they can go with Joe's hauling and Joe's hauling comes by on Wednesday, then your neighbor's trash cart's gonna be out on Wednesday. And maybe they save five bucks a month. And what is the value of that $5 in the context of how that extra trash truck and that cart out on the other day of the week impacts the whole community as a whole? And that's where I think it's really a community thought process to determine, it's not just like, how much is it going to cost me and my business? What's the impact on the community when I make those choices for my business? And what's the benefit that can be brought to the entire business community in the square?
[Steve]: And Kelly asked, can the city may be limited to two or three days? I assume you mean trash pickup to two or three days. What about weekends?
[Tim McGivern]: That's not a bad idea. And I don't think that's off the table. So if we do land in a situation where we have multiple pickup days in a square, trying to limit it is definitely an option for all the reasons that Jeremy said, for all the reasons that we are trying to do this the best we can.
[Steve]: Any other questions? Again, I put in the chat, but if anything comes to you later, you can email businessdistricts at medford-ma.gov and we'll get your questions answered as well. I think there are a few more, sorry. The vast majority of businesses in West Medford Square and probably other squares are in buildings greater than 2,500 square feet, so I think small businesses are misunderstanding that the WM service will be available to them. Comment from Steve Pompeo.
[Sal Di Stefano]: What's the question?
[Steve]: I don't know if anyone wants to comment on if small businesses are, if they understand this or not, that the WM service will be available to them.
[Tim McGivern]: They may not. I'm not sure how to, if it's a question though, Steve.
[Steve]: Okay. Yeah. Just another comment from Kelly. I'm afraid if trash is out every day, the walking clients will diminish. A lot of people like to take walks.
[Jeremy Drake]: That's a good comment. And the entire purpose of this initiative is, it's in the name, right? Improving the cleanliness of our squares. The purpose isn't making sure that trash carts are out every day of the week. If that becomes an unintended consequence, then we need to, as Tim suggested, re-evaluate and see what changes need to be made to address that.
[Tim McGivern]: That was the result.
[Steve]: We have about five minutes left, so we probably have time for one more question. I don't know if anyone has any. Again, you can email businessdistricts at medford-ma.gov, and you can also check out our FAQ at medfordma.org slash squares. We'll follow up. You can also email me directly or Tim or And we'll get your question answered. So I don't see anything else. And I think it goes over to Sal, I think, to kind of wrap this up.
[Sal Di Stefano]: Yes, thank you, Steve. So as you see in the calendar, we have some upcoming square-specific meeting dates listed below, and then on September 10th, a catch-up meeting for anybody who missed their square-specific meetings. But I just wanted to thank everybody that attended today. I know that there are still questions, but there's resources here to help. And I have to say that in the businesses that I've worked with and business leaders have complimented Tim and his staff at DPW who have been helping businesses come up with solutions. And we're here to help. So as we mentioned earlier, our goal is for Medford to be a cleaner, more welcoming place. and a place that is conducive to public health and enjoyment. So once again, we thank everybody for coming. This is not the end. This is just the beginning. Please join us at your square-specific date. I hope to see you there. Thank you very much. Also, Heather's info is below for business-specific technical assistance. As she mentioned, she's willing to have one-on-one meetings. Please take her up on that if you have questions. I'll turn it over to Jeremy.
[Jeremy Drake]: Thanks, Sal. I just wanted to make a request of the folks here, reiterate Sal's gratitude for showing up. 11 representatives from the squares I know is not everybody. So if you have neighbors in your square, please tell them about these upcoming meetings. We want to get as many people as we can involved in this so that they can get the support that they need to feel like they they've got the help to make it through what this process is going to entail. And so please invite your neighbors, invite other folks, friends from the squares to make sure that we can get as many people as we can to these meetings.
[Steve]: I just want to know that you can register for those meetings at MedfordMA.org slash squares, depending on obviously which square your business resides in.
[Jeremy Drake]: And just, I think there's a comment about Friday. All these meetings, I believe, are on Tuesdays, Wednesday, I think it's Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then Tuesdays and Wednesdays. We avoided Mondays and Fridays when we were scheduling these. And they're all at 3 p.m. Visit the website medfordma.org slash squares to register for your own meeting. Okay.
[Steve]: That's Thursday.
[Jeremy Drake]: That's a Thursday.
[Steve]: Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks everybody. Again, please head over to the website medfordma.org slash squares and there's plenty of resources and info there. So thanks again, everybody for attending and we'll see y'all soon.
[Tim McGivern]: Thanks. Thank you.