Saugus DPW director calls illegal trash dumping ‘isolated incident’

SAUGUS – Saugus Department of Public Works Director Joe Attubato said “a couple dozen” bags of trash were illegally dumped on Eastern Avenue on Friday near the Rumney Marsh, but he said he does not believe the incident was spurred by the town’s new curbside trash rules.The illegal dumping came almost three weeks after the town initiated its new trash and recycling program, which limits weekly curbside trash for single-family homes to three 45-gallon barrels. Attubato, however, said he does not believe the new program spurred the illegal dumping.”I don’t know how this came about,” said Attubato. “I think it’s an isolated incident because the areas we usually have to go to a couple times a month, we haven’t had to do that since we’ve had the new recycling program going, which has helped.”Town Meeting member Albert DiNardo, however, pointed to Friday’s dumping as a sign of things to come.”What’s happening is people are leaving trash at other people’s houses or they’re leaving it on Eastern Avenue,” said DiNardo. “If I put a bag in front of your house, let’s say it doesn’t meet the standards, now you’re stuck with a bag of trash that wasn’t even yours. What do you do with that bag of trash? It’s opening up a whole can of worms.”In June, Town Meeting voted to send a proposed $2 trash overflow fee back to selectmen, stating that any trash fees are to be established through a bylaw proposed by the Board of Selectmen and adopted by Town Meeting. The Board of Health still went ahead with the three-barrel limit without the fee.Anything more than three barrels of trash will now be left by collectors, but Solid Waste and Recycling Coordinator Lorna Cerbone said trash collectors haven’t been leaving items behind yet.Cerbone said she and her staff have been monitoring the situation since the policy was implemented on Aug. 1 and said so far around 75 percent of residents have been in compliance.”As of right now there is no overflow option,” said Cerbone. “But we’re hoping once Town Meeting reconvenes that they’ll consider it. That would be, I would think, the best interest to have something in place.”Cerbone said fines for illegal dumping range from up to $300 locally and up to $1,500 on a state level.Without an overflow option available, Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said people should plan accordingly.”People should call and see if some arrangements can be made with the recycling department,” said Bisignani. “There’s always a special consideration if someone has a special event. We’ll always consider that. But as a matter of routine it’s three barrels.”One of the biggest issues residents have complained about is the town’s enforcement of the 35-gallon barrel limit, a provision that has always been in the town’s contract with trash haulers JRM, but was only recently enforced. After receiving complaints about this, Bisignani reached an agreement with JRM to increase the limit to 45 gallons, which sparked some backlash from residents who already replaced their old barrels.”This whole thing has cost a lot of money with people buying barrels,” said DiNardo. “They threw out the old ones thinking the policy was in effect. Then there was a switchback ? now we’re taking those barrels. I don’t think this is the way to do it. It wasn’t thought out very well.”Bisignani said he and Cerbone are working on some other options for people who put out more than three barrels, but he doesn’t want to do anything that would hinder recycling efforts.”What are we going to do to allow people to put out four barrels or five barrels?” asked Bisignani. “It just defeats the whole purpose. We’re trying to reduce tonnage and increase recycling. We’re considering options, but we’re going to let this sort out first.”The Board of Selectmen will hold a public hearing tonight at 7 p.m. to go over a proposed article that would give Town Meeting authority over trash policy.”I guess this is going to be a battle of who has the authority here, the Board of Health or an elected bo