The otherwise civilized debate at the recent pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) hearing was marred by a distinctly ageist theme reiterated by opponents that the selectmen and board of health, in sponsoring this program, are insensitive to the plight of the young. The burdensome cost of the required purple bags —$300. a year is one figure bandied about—is a discriminatory tax, it was claimed, which will drive young families from the Cape.
Young people are being forced by this program callously foisted on them to haul their garbage to friends for disposal in neighboring towns (whose seniors have not turned against their young citizens) or to turn outlaw by illegally burning or dumping it in the woods.
As a number of residents testified at the hearing, there is scant evidence of these drastic measures, but the suggestions themselves seem inflammatory—threats, if not accurate reports.
Of the over 30 people who spoke at the hearing, proponents outnumbered opponents by about three to one.
The claim of insensitivity to the young seems especially surprising after the first PAYT proponent started the evening by suggesting that the town make special bags available at no cost for diapers. (From the start of the program the Town has made clear that it will provide relief for residents needing it.)
According to a report presented at the start of the meeting, PAYT, as expected from results in other towns (40% of Mass. towns), has already substantially increased recycling and reduced the amount of trash to be hauled offCape. Apparently everyone, old and young, will save money from it when the cost of that hauling rises dramatically starting next year.
As for the $300. figure, my personal window on local youth, my 27 year-old son, with two kids (one in diapers, one just out) two dogs, two cats, and a gecko, estimates his family’s yearly purple bag use at something like $75. based on the first three months.
If he and his partner are forced to move to Vermont to be able to afford to buy a house, it will be because of what the second homes have done in recent decades to real estate prices here, not the cost of purple bags.
No Comments