Woolwich selectmen will begin the process of ending the town’s contract with WasteZero and Pay As You Throw (PAYT) when they meet for a regular meeting 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16. 

On Election Day, voters overwhelmingly approved the referendum to sever the town’s contract with Andover, Massachusetts-based WasteZero, ending the two-month-old program requiring residents to purchase orange plastic bags for disposal of their non-recyclable trash.

Selectmen’s Chairman David King Sr. said according to the terms of the contract, Woolwich is obligated to give WasteZero 60 days notice which means the program will continue until the first of the new year.

“The townspeople made it clear they don’t want to continue on with it (PAYT) so we’ll begin the process of doing what’s necessary to end it,” he said. “We also need to decide about allowing people to return their unused WasteZero bags to the town office for a refund.”

In the coming weeks the town office also has to work out the financial details for what it owes WasteZero for the orange trash bags that weren’t sold. WasteZero maintains a two-month supply of bags.

“Because we reduced the solid waste line of this year’s budget $36,000, we’ll need to look at replacing some of this money as well,” King continued, saying the funds that were needed would likely come from the undesignated fund balance. “That will mean we’ll eventually have to hold a special town meeting because the board has no authority to do this without approval of townspeople.” Selectmen will have a better idea what the townspeople will need to appropriate as PAYT draws to an end.

PAYT got under way in Woolwich Sept. 1. Figures compiled by WasteZero indicate the town has saved a little over $7,000 in tipping fees and other costs associated with its solid waste disposal. Recycling for the same two-month period more than doubled. Wastezero reported the town’s share for sale of the orange trash bags was approximately $8,400.

Following the election, selectmen issued a press release stating PAYT would continue until further notice, or as King explained until the board of selectmen decided what to do about the bags people had already purchased. The irony, King said, is because PAYT will continue for another 60 days, the town might actually save a little more money. “We just don’t know,” he added.

Fred Kahrl, chairman of the solid waste and recycling committee, told the newspaper Tuesday he was obviously disappointed with the results of the election. “There’s a lot in play right now and there’s going to be a lot of unhappy people in town who are putting their trash out in black garbage bags and in garbage cans for curbside pickup,” he said. Until the first of the new year the town’s trash collector is under no obligation to pick up trash other than what’s placed in the orange WasteZero Bags, he said. 

Kahrl said seeing the black garbage bags indicates to him people didn’t fully understand what passing the referendum meant. He added PAYT was doing exactly what WasteZero had promised, reducing the town’s solid waste tonnage while increasing recycling. The next meeting of the solid waste and recycling committee will be 5:30 p.m., Nov. 18 in the hearing room.