The city of Medford, Massachusetts is looking into cutting back weekly trash pickup to once every two weeks. Residents aren't happy about it.

The proposal is part of a new plan to expand composting in Medford. The city secured a $200,000 grant that would require it to limit weekly trash service to 32-gallons a week, or the two-week equivalent of the 64-gallon buckets the city deploys now. 

"I talk to a bunch of people all day long in here and I haven't met one person who goes, 'You know what? Man, that really is something that we got to look into," said Chris Donnelly, a Medford barber and resident. "I can't image if we've got to cut it down by 50-percent a week, I mean I don't know how many people can sustain that."

Donnelly said his family fills two barrels a week, one above the limit, so they already have to pay extra to have the extra trash hauled away.

Under the proposal, bi-weekly trash pickup would start in 2027, but compost would still be picked up every week. The trash pickup would be limited to the single 64-gallon barrel, but residents would be able to buy additional barrels and there would be an additional cost for picking up extra trash.

In a statement, the city said solid food waste accounts for a large portion of the state's solid waste, and it costs more to dispose of because it weighs more. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has considered expanding a food waste ban to all Massachusetts residents by 2030. 

"My wife is a stickler about [composting], and she does whatever she can to mitigate trash, and unfortunately we still have a barrel full of trash every week," said Richard Silvestro, owner of Silvestro's Barbershop in Medford. "I think it would help save the city money on trash pickup, but other than that I don't see any benefit." 

"People with little ones, diapers, everything adds up," said Ryan Tuttle, a customer at Silvestro's. "People put their compost in the freezer to stop it from smelling. You can only do that so much, or run out of freezer space, and it smells." 

"We have upset our residents"

"We are trying to meet our financial goals and our sustainability goals at the same time, so yes, I know people are upset. People don't like change, and they don't want their services taken away. We see it as, 'Please give it a chance," said Medford Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn. 

"We've upset our residents on potentially going to every other week trash, but we do, we need time to learn, listen, get everybody's concerns and make adjustments and changes as we move through the next 19 months." 

In a statement to WBZ-TV, Medford City Council President Zac Bears had this to say about the changes: 

"Mayor Lungo-Koehn promised that any potential decision to cut back weekly trash collection would only happen after the City conducted robust public outreach and achieved clear benchmarks. That never happened.

Residents who oppose this decision are worried about the negative impacts on quality of life. Residents who support efforts to reduce waste and control trash removal costs that hurt our city budget are worried that this botched rollout means the city won't make progress on those issues. 

I'm disappointed that the Mayor is pointing fingers instead of leading with a clear plan to earn the trust of residents and make sure that Medford is ready for such a big decision."