SWAMPSCOTT — Director of Public Works Gino Cresta met with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee to discuss townwide litter mitigation and enforcement.
The main locations focused on during the conversation were the town’s beaches, as the summer draws more visitors to them than other times of year.
Cresta informed the committee that his department currently visits beaches each morning to empty trash receptacles and pick up loose debris. He also revealed that Eisman’s Beach and Preston Beach are each set to receive an additional trash barrel, and that his department is in possession of more if they become needed.
“We’re finding pizza boxes over by the cannon,” Cresta said about littering at Fisherman’s Beach. “That’s where they’re doing the beach fires… I don’t understand why they’re not just throwing it in the fire.”
Board of Health Chair and SWAC member Peter Sheckman inquired about adding an additional trash pick-up time by the Department of Public Works in the afternoon.
“On the weekend it’s more feasible because we have a stand-by crew that gets paid hour-for-hour,” Cresta said. “If it was during the week and I brought them in after 3:30 p.m., they would get a four-hour minimum.”
Cresta added that the only potential downside to an additional trash-pickup visit would be the need to use more trash bags.
According to Cresta, more illegal dumping takes place at Phillips Beach than any other.
“You can use your best judgment… If you see people at the beach throughout the day, then call them in and do a clean sweep around the major beaches,” SWAC Chair Wayne Spritz said to Cresta.
Cresta later confirmed that the DPW will be doing additional trash removal at all beaches at 5 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday.
