Automated trash collection begins next week in Lynn

LYNN – Say goodbye to those mismatched, banged-up barrels.Next week marks the start of automated trash collection when residents will wheel their green bins to the curb for collection by Waste Management, the city?s garbage and recycling contractor.Trash pickup days and alternate week recycling routes are not changing under the new system, but how trash is placed curbside will change significantly.Trash will go out in the smaller, 64-gallon bin dropped off at homes, small businesses and residential buildings not currently contracting for private garbage collection. Trash bins are roughly equivalent to two standard trash barrels, said city Public Works Commissioner Andrew Hall, with one assigned to each home.Hall urged residents to follow Colonial Avenue resident Nancy Gheringhelli?s lead and write their address on their trash bin and the larger, 96-gallon recycling bin given to households to avoid confusion between residents over bin ownership.?It?s a good idea, especially in the city?s denser neighborhoods,” Hall said.Under automated trash collection, a Waste Management driver will steer a truck equipped with a mechanical arm down streets and manipulate the arm to grab and scoop up the bins. To work effectively, bins should be placed about 18 inches from the curb?s edge, Hall said, with the bin?s wheels and lid handle facing away from the curb.Hall said automated collection is intended to increase local recycling, help the city look neat and control city waste-disposal costs.?The whole point is to control the amount of trash that goes to the curb,” he said.Gheringhelli lives with her son, C.J., and mother, Eleanor McDonald, and puts out an average of three trash bags a week. She said the 64-gallon bin will hold her garbage with ease and said the 96-gallon recycling bin will encourage her to separate more bottles, cardboard, cans and plastic bottles from her garbage and toss the recyclable items in the bin.She thinks automated collection will improve the city?s appearance by eliminating the sight of barrels overflowing with trash or broken trash bags lining curbs across the city. “I think everyone?s going to jump on the bandwagon,” she said.Landlord and Lynn resident Stacey Roller isn?t so sure. Roller is president of the North Shore Rental Property Association, a landlord group with 10 core members and other landlords who attend meetings. The association is scheduled to discuss automated recycling?s impact on residential building owners on Dec. 11, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Panera Bread in Vinnin Square, Swampscott.?The concept is good. It will help a lot with rats, but my fellow landlords are concerned about tenants leaving out mattresses and other big items. It?s the bigger items that are a problem,” Roller said.She?s right, said Hall, who acknowledged the DPW has hired two temporary employees to field calls from residents and landlords about automated trash collection in recent weeks with some of the calls focused on bulk item collection.Beginning Monday, any item too big to fit into the trash bin must be stored and hauled down for disposal on one of the three city Dumpster Days. The special collections are held three times a year at the DPW yard on Commercial Street extension with the next one scheduled for the spring. Residents can also call Waste Management at 800-972-4545 to arrange for a crew to make a bulk pickup – with a $20 charge attached to each item collected.Old trash barrels and recycling containers can be dropped off at the DPW yard on Commercial Street extension from Dec. 1-13 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Tuesday from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon and on Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.The city?s new trash ordinance approved by the City Council on Nov. 18 sets a $50 fine for first-time violations, followed by a $100 fine for a second offense. Hall acknowledged “some growing pains” will accompany automated trash collection?s introduction and said city re