‘You will adapt’: Concord to begin automated trash pickup trial in June

About a quarter of the City of Concord will be part of a pilot period for automated trash pickup starting next June.

Under the new automated pickup, a robotic arm reaches out and grabs city-provided trash bins and unloads them into a truck. The city is planning to transition to this system full-time in the summer of 2028, but a two-year testing period will start this summer.

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Here’s what you need to know:

• One of the city’s four trash routes will become automatic during the testing period.
• Affected streets are shown on city maps and in an interactive database.
• Trash pickup days will stay the same, though the truck’s arrival time may vary from the current system. The city recommends bins be placed on the street the night before.
• By default, each residence will be provided with one 65-gallon trash bin and one 95-gallon recycling bin by the city. For recycling, that’s the equivalent of five small blue bins currently provided by the city. For trash, that’ll hold about four of the smaller purple bags or two of the large ones. Each bin is between three and four feet tall with a two-and-a-half-foot square lid.
• Bins will be provided by the city and must be used. Each will have a serial number assigned to a specific property address and will stay with the property if you move.
• Smaller and larger options for trash bins are available, but only for seniors or others with mobility needs or, if wanting a bigger one, for larger families. Those on the pilot routes wanting a different size must request it by the end of March.
• Multi-family buildings will get one of each bin per unit up to four units, but landlords can request fewer bins. For example, the default is that a three-unit building would get six total bins.
• Bins must be placed on a firm, flat surface along the road with the handles facing away from the street. Bins must be three feet apart and away from obstructions like cars, trees and mailboxes. All materials must fit inside the bin.
• Only residential properties will get automated pickup.
• The purple bag, pay-as-you-throw system will remain in effect.

A few questions the pilot program will troubleshoot relate to the space for bins in denser neighborhoods and the enforcement of the purple bag system.

For many homes, especially multifamily units near downtown with on-street parking, the number of provided bins won’t easily fit curbside.

Many such buildings, for example, don’t have the frontage for eight bins to be placed three feet apart unobstructed by cars, trees and utility poles. Residents may have to place bins in their driveways and move them to get in and out on trash day.

Space-saving measures are also an option: neighbors in the same building or next-door to one another can share bins if desired.

“There’s no one-size-fits-all,” said Erin Banfield, director of municipal services for Casella. “You will all adapt. All residents will adapt to how best to use them, as will our drivers.”

Many of the city’s tightest streets, notably, the area behind the statehouse to the South End, are not included in the pilot.

If people run into issues or have questions, noted Adam Clark, a division manager with the city’s general services department, they are encouraged to call the city to talk through them at 603-228-2737.

“That’s one of the reasons the pilot is so important,” said acting General Services Director Jeff Hoadley. “Within the first six months, these types of questions will come up. We’ll get with our vendor, and we’ll be able to come up with a solution.”

During the pilot, additional staff will be going ahead of trucks to help ensure bins are able to be emptied. Bins that aren’t placed correctly will get a notice.

Clark noted that while the purple bag requirement will remain in effect, the enforcement mechanism is still in the works. A camera in the truck will document when a bin contains improperly bagged trash, but what happens next hasn’t been determined.

The transition to automated pickup was laid out in a new solid waste contract approved by city leaders in 2023 and enacted the following July.

While Concord has previously resisted automated pickup, the industry and Casella – the city’s provider and an increasingly dominant presence in the New England solid waste market – are moving decidedly toward the automatic system, which requires fewer staff.

“Securing that type of service for any length of time,” Hoadley said of traditional collection, “would be impossible.”

The provided bins are larger than what most people currently use for both recycling and trash: Hoadley noted larger recycling bins, especially, are expected to lead to higher rates of recycling and less wind-blown litter.

More information can be found at concordnh.gov/automatedcollection and in the city’s resource guide.

Manchester began a transition to automated trash pickup in 2016, and Nashua did before that. Among others, neighboring Bow adopted the program in 2019 and Laconia made the switch in 2023.

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