Soon Residents In Windham Will No Longer Need to Buy Blue Trash Bags

Some changes are coming to the way the Town of Windham collects trash which may, in turn, change the way Windham residents bag it.

According to the Windam Eagle, the Windham Town Council has voted unanimously to an agreement with Casella Waste to switch to an automated trash collection system, which would mean that residents no longer would need to bag their trash in blue bags purchased as local stores or the Windham Town Office.

Casella wants to change the way it collects trash by using trucks that automatically dump trash into them with a lift system shown in this Facebook post from Casella Waste Systems.

Back in March 2022 it was reported that Casella was not interested in renewing the current contract without switching to the new system of collection. The benefit to Casella is to help them deal with labor shortages that have driven up their operating costs. As a Windham resident, I've seen that trash collection has been affected as many businesses have by a shortage of workers. Trash collection always happens on the scheduled day, but the time of day has varied much more than it used it.

The significant change with a switch to an automated collection system is that the blue bags used in Windham's "Pay As You Throw" system would go away. That's where you purchase special blue bags and the revenue from those purchases goes toward the cost of trash collection for the town rather than it being a part of your annual property tax.

Under the new system, residents would get two trash bins paid for by the town, one for trash and one for recycling. Each would be able to be picked up by the arm of the truck, dumped out, and placed back down on the curb.

Personally, I love the blue bag system. I'd much rather pay only for the trash I dispose of than a flat fee in taxes.

The agreement voted on unanimously by the Town Council allows Casella to start to purchasing the additional trucks and equipment needed to convert to the automated system.

Expect to see the switchover to happen by the fall of 2023.