Lots of talk about having to spend money to obtain an extra waste toter if you are a family that for some reason generates an above average amount of waste. The Town of Londonderry instituted a curbside pickup program about two years ago.
There were residents concerned that the waste containers (Londonderry went with 65 gallon toters rather than the 96 gallon toters in the Salem plan) would be too small for their waste. Londonderry offered concerned residents the option of purchasing additional toters (65 gallons) and paying an annual fee to have them emptied weekly.
The Town of Londonderry provides curbside pickup to 7934 residences. Only 395 additional toters were purchased by residents concerned they could not survive with one toter. That is approximately 5 percent of the residents served.
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The Town of Londonderry also only supplies two-18 gallon totes per residence. This is because they do not have single stream recycling and they still have to separate their recyclables. However, they do pick up the recyclables weekly and if residents choose so they can provide their own recycling containers and the town will provide a sticker for the container.
The Town of Salem will supply our residents with two-96 gallon containers if the referendum and financing are passed. One for waste and one for recyclables. Waste will be picked up weekly and recyclables bi-weekly. That is 1/3 more capacity than Londonderry residents have for waste and 1/4 more capacity for recyclables.
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You can fit a lot of waste in a 96 gallon toter. I currently use a 45 gallon toter for waste and I don't fill it most weeks. I also have a 45 gallon toter for recyclables and that is generally 2/3 full every week(and not with empty beverage containers). Some weeks the recyclables barrel is fuller than the trash barrel.
