China committee reviews transfer station operations

by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members used their final 2025 meeting, held on Dec. 9, to review transfer station operations, facilities and plans, and to schedule a discussion of Pay-as-You-Throw (PAYT), also called pay-per-bag or pay-per-throw (PPB or PPT), at their first 2026 meeting.

PAYT means that people who dispose of trash at China’s facility would pay for each bag thrown into the hopper, thereby reducing or eliminating tax support of the facility. The town would sell bags to users, so all bags would be the same size and transfer station staff would not need to count bags and collect fees as waste came in.

Palermo residents who use China’s facility under an agreement between the two towns already use PAYT. They can buy required blue trash bags at their town office or Tobey’s Store.

The main reason for recommending a PAYT system is fairness, or, as Palermo representative Bob Kurek put it, no longer making people who have less trash subsidize people who have more. Transfer station manager Thomas Maraggio added that PAYT promotes recycling.

Recycling saves money for the whole town; instead of paying to get rid of stuff, the town gets paid for its recyclables. Maraggio said prices fluctuate, and are currently low for many items, but recycling is not a money-loser.

Committee members intend to spend part of their Jan. 13, 2026, meeting calculating how instituting PAYT would rebalance transfer station costs, by increasing the amount paid by an average user and reducing the amount needed from property taxes.

They remembered that when China voters were asked to approve a PAYT system some years ago, it was soundly rejected. Were they to recommend it again, they agreed they would need to provide a lot of information and explanations.

On another matter, committee members recommended two changes aimed at encouraging the minority of Palermo residents who do not regularly use blue bags to comply with the rules. They voted unanimously to increase the price of bags sold at the transfer station to $5 (they are $3 at the Palermo town office); and to double the price, to $10, as a penalty for bringing trash in non-regulation bags.

Changes are to be effective Jan. 1, 2026.

Much of the meeting was spent reviewing work done and work pending at the transfer station, and the current year’s budget. Maraggio said spending appears to be on track, in spite of an unusual amount of demolition debris shipped out early in the year.

A new part-time attendant has been hired, he reported. And he assured concerned committee members that staff are able to keep warm on cold days.

Another likely topic for the Jan. 13 meeting is a progress report on the Municipal WasteHub disposal and recycling facility being developed in Hampden. China Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood is a member of Municipal WasteHub’s board of directors.