Recycle fees raised

TOWNSEND » Local residents will need to pay more money to have town workers pick up certain reusable items.

Starting Jan. 1, the Townsend Recycling Center will have higher fees for the removal of certain items. Health Administrator Carla Hitzenbuhler said that the Board of Health made the decision during its meeting on Nov. 30 after planning the fee increase for about a year.

Hitzenbuhler said that this is the first time the center is raising the fees in a decade and the cause is tied to the coronavirus pandemic prompting many residents to work from home.

“We’re so busy with everyone staying home and the market changing, we need changes to the fees to be self-sufficient,” she said. “Everyone is throwing away their exercise equipment for new stuff, so we have their big bulky equipment to deal with. We had one gentleman who said he can’t stay in the usual limit because he’s home all the time.”

The prices for accepting certain items will be increased by $5. Exercise equipment, for instance, will cost $10 to be accepted at the center.

Extra-large bulky equipment will cost $30 to remove while small bulky equipment will cost $15.

Items including car batteries, grills, electric lawn equipment, small metal and small plastic pieces cost $10 to remove.

Other items including computer monitors, couches, large refrigerators and medium plastic

pieces will cost $20 to remove.

The most expensive fee charged by the Recycling Center is for non-residents needing a truck to remove debris, which costs $105.

“We’re not trying to just make money off of people,

but the recycling center has no budget and we have to pay employee salaries, fees and maintenance costs,” Hitzenbuhler said.

The Recycling Center will be open every first and third Saturday of the month next year.