Trash rules irk Saugus residents

SAUGUS – It?s been a full week since the town of Saugus implemented its new waste reduction program and, while some residents are still trying to adjust to the three barrel per family limit, some are upset over the enforcement of a 35-gallon size limit for each barrel.According to the town?s contract with JRM Hauling of Peabody, “each container, bag or box shall not exceed 35 gallon capacity nor 60 pounds in weight.”Saugus is currently in the fourth year of a five-year, $3 million contract with JRM and that stipulation has always been a part of it, but Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said JRM recently started emphasizing it due to an increase in injuries.?They?ve had so many injuries that they?ve had to start enforcing it,” said Bisignani. “Try picking up a 60-gallon barrel full of trash, one guy doing that is hard and you can really hurt yourself. The contract is very specific? but they?ve let it go for the last three years.”Harlow Street resident Susan Russo has three 50-gallon trash bins and, on Monday morning, all three of them had a yellow sticker saying she was in violation of the waste reduction program. Russo said her husband thought the stickers were for having too much trash at the curb and didn?t realize they were too big.?I think it?s a big joke,” said Russo. “He?s already kind of (disturbed) about (the three-barrel limit).”Crystal Coppinger lives on Linden Street and has a massive 96-gallon bin, almost three times the specified limit, but she said it?s been picked up every week without a problem. As of Aug. 1, however, that?s no longer the case.?I think it?s a little ridiculous,” said Coppinger. “To suddenly change everything, suddenly you?re leaving tags on our garbage bins and we?re like, ?Well you had no problem taking them before.? They have to understand, we?ve got families, you can?t always downsize the amount of trash that comes out.”Marie Cabral puts out just one trash bin in front of her Pevwell Drive home, unfortunately it?s a 60-gallon bin. Cabral said she didn?t know there was a 35-gallon limit and thought the new reduction program was just for the number of barrels people put out.Like Coppinger, Cabral said trash collectors have been picking up her trash without a problem.?They?ve been doing it all these years,” said Cabral. “And the trash is less because of all the recycling. I don?t think it?s fair at all. They always keep throwing stuff on us like the snow removal, we had to pay for that? now it?s the trash.”Bisignani said the ultimate goal of the waste reduction program is to reduce garbage output and increase recycling. And while trash collectors have been leaving yellow stickers on all the oversized barrels, JRM will stop collecting them within a few weeks.?You can put as much recycling out as you want,” said Bisignani. “The containers just have to be marked ?recycling.? But if you have a 45- or a 60-gallon barrel, you have to replace it. You have to make other arrangements.”