Cardboard Drop-off: DPW Yard, 37 C St., Saturday, Jan. 14 – 8AM to 1PM

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Photo: Last chance to get rid of all that cardboard at one fell swoop

The holidays are over and it’s time to get rid of all that cardboard your gifts came in.

The Belmont Department of Public Works will be holding a cardboard drop-off event at 37 C St., DPW Yard on Saturday, Jan. 14, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Instructions:

  • No early drop offs, cardboard drop-off will begin at 8 a.m. and not a minute sooner.
  • Must be a Belmont resident to register.
  • Please remain in your car at the Yard.
  • All cardboard must be in the trunk or rear of the car.
  • All cardboard should be flattened prior to drop-off.

Please Click Here To Register 

Get Rid Of Your Cardboard At DPW Drop-Off On Saturday, Dec. 3; 8 AM to 1 PM

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Photo: Get rid of all that cardboard in your house

The Belmont Department of Public Works is holding the next in its series of cardboard drop-off event on Saturday, Dec. 3, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Town Yard at the end of C Street off of Waverley.

This event applies to all cardboard and only cardboard.

When you arrive, remain in your vehicle.
All cardboard should be in the trunk or rear of the vehicle. 
All cardboard should be flattened prior to drop off.

There is a $5 fee per vehicle.

Click Here to Register 

DPW’s First Cardboard Event On Saturday, Oct. 22

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Photo: Bring it on

The Belmont Department of Public Works is holding a special pre-holiday cardboard drop-off event this Saturday, Oct. 22 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the DPW Yard on 37 C St. The event will allow Belmont residents to get rid of excess cardboard materials before the holiday season. The applies to all cardboard and only cardboard.

There is a $5 fee per vehicle.

All cardboard should be flattened prior to drop off and placed in the trunk or rear of the car 

Residents can pre-register here: https://belmontma.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=30003&AdminPreview=1

Three Cardboard Drop-Off Days Are Coming To Belmont’s DPW Yard

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Photo: Belmont will hold three cardboard drop off events starting in October

Where do you stack the cardboard boxes that brought your online purchases? In the garage? How about the corner of your office? Or the basement where it has taken the form of a corrugated fiberboard Mt. Everest.

Well, you’ll soon have the opportunity to rid all those cartons out of your abode as Belmont will provide residents three days to drop-off those piles of cardboard, according to Jay Marcotte, director of the Department of Public Works.

“It’s that time of year,” Marcotte told the Belmont Select Board at its Monday, Sept. 12 meeting, when the town creates the schedule for paid drop off events.

Unlike past years when the town held a pair of events on either side of the Christmas holiday, demand for the service – which is revenue neutral – necessitates a extra day.

“We are slammed with phone calls right now,” said Marcotte, noting at a recent event, 400 cars lined up to toss their boxes.

The events will take place on:

  • Saturday, Oct. 22
  • Saturday, Dec. 3
  • Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023

Location: the DPW Yard off of C Street.

Cost: $5. “The fee seems to work best at $5; that seems like the magic number for participation,” said Marcotte. Residents can use an on-line registration form on the Recreation Department‘s web page or come to cash or a check written out to the “Town of Belmont.”

Cardboard Drop-Off Returns, Jan. 29; ‘Popular’ Mattress Recycling Program Continues

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Photo: Mattress removal is a popular service, says Belmont DPW (Credit: Rubbish computer, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Did you miss the town’s last cardboard drop off before Christmas? Do you now have a pile of boxes that can be qualify as a small mountain? Is the thought of the pile of corrugated fiberboard staring at you for the next 12 months unappealing?

Well, you and your fellow on-line purchasing neighbors don’t have to fret as the Belmont Department of Public Works is hosting a post-holiday Cardboard Recycling Event at the Public Works Yard at 37 C on Saturday, Jan. 29 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

There a $5 fee to dispose all you can carry in your vehicle.

PRE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED, HEAD TO THIS LINK TO PRE REGISTER

Jason Marcotte, DPW director, said he is being flooded with phone calls “pretty much asking us when are we going to have a next cardboard event.” Marcotte said last month’s drop-off on Dec. 18 was “very successful” by not only the number of vehicles but due to a new system implemented to streamline the collection process, the event did not have a traffic jam to enter the yard.

Marcotte also announced that the town has signed a five month extension of its contract with Green Mattress of Milford for curbside pick up of used mattress at $25 per item. For the past 17 months, the town was using a state grant – which will end Jan. 31 – to cover the cost of the program which Marcotte called “very popular” with residents as the town has taken away 2,282 mattresses or about 140 a month.

As of Feb. 1, the town will now cover the cost of Green Mattress to remove the items. Green Mattress recycles up to 84 percent of each mattress into sellable components. Massachusetts will ban towns from placing mattresses in state landfills as of Nov. 1, 2022.

Don’t Be Left On The Curb: Sign Up For Cardboard Drop Off On Saturday, Dec. 18

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Photo: Cardboard should be flattened before driving it over to the Town Yard

The Belmont Department of Public Works cardboard drop off event – which is occurring this week – is for you to get rid of excess cardboard … and only cardboard.

There is a $5 fee for all the cardboard you can stuff in your vehicle; the drop off will occur on Saturday, Dec. 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the DPW Yard, 37 C St., off of Waverley Street.

But before you can participate, you have to first register here.

And there are some rules:

  • Please remain in your car
  • All cardboard should be in the trunk or rear of the car 
  • All cardboard should be flattened prior to drop off

Pre-XMas Cardboard Drop-Off Set For This Holiday Season At Belmont DPW Yard

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Photo: Cardboard drop-off will occur on Dec. 18 at the DPW Yard

With a record number of packages set to be delivered to US homes this holiday season, it’s expected Americans like those living in Belmont will be desperate finding a way to depose of the mountains of cardboard boxes their gifts came in.

“I already have cardboard piling up,” admitted Select Board Chair Adam Dash.

In fact, calls and texts to Belmont town and elected officials on just that subject began in October, Department of Public Works Director Jay Marcotte told the Board at its Monday, Nov. 15 meeting.

Well, the town has heard those pleas and announced it will hold its cardboard “event” in which residents can relieve themselves of the burden of corrugated fiberboard by coming down to the DPW with the cardboard in tow. And this year, it will take place before Christmas.

“We’re trying to say ahead of the curve,” said Marcotte of the predicted tsunami of spent packaging.

The drop-off will take place on:

Saturday, Dec. 18 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the DPW Yard. A $5 fee will be required when residents sign up for the event. The sign up process using the Recreation Department’s website will be announced in the next weeks.

Select Board’s Vice Chair Roy Epstein advocated for the fee and at least 100 pre-registrants as a threshold for holding a drop-off.

“I’m not looking to make money just trying to cover costs,” said Dash.

A fee and minimum required participants shouldn’t be a problem if what occurred 10 months ago is any measure. At last season’s only drop off on Jan. 9 at which time the $5 fee was first introduced, 348 vehicles left a whopping 10 tons of cardboard filling five box containers and several of the DPW’s loading bays. The combination of the fee revenue and the amount received on the sale of the cardboard, Belmont made a $250 “profit” over expenses of $2,640.

“That was a lot of cardboard,” said Marcotte.

Residents Bring Tons of Cardboard During Saturday’s Drop Off Event

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Photo: Cardboard drop-off remains a popular event in Belmont

The line of cars and other vehicles stretched down C Street and out onto Waverley Street this past Saturday, Jan. 9, all driven by Belmontians with a single goal in common: take our cardboard – PLEASE!

With holiday shopping favoring the use of online sites, residents were undeterred by a first-time ever fee or the anticipated long waits to have someone to take away all the empty boxes and packages that were piling up in garages and basements.

In just five hours on Saturday morning into the afternoon, the Department of Public Works’ Highway Division collected 22 tons of cardboard filling five 40-yard long containers, two truck bays and six 6-wheel dump trucks, said Jay Marcotte, Belmont’s director of public works to the Select Board at its Monday, Jan. 11 meeting.

In total, 348 vehicles came through the DPW Yard at the new year’s first drop off event and the town’s inaugural fee-based service. Marcotte said 211 residents paid the $5 fee using the on-line registration (another 20 paid early but didn’t show up) resulting in the town pocketing approximately $1,750. With cardboard selling for something like $50 a ton, Belmont’s coffer will all told take in about $3,000.

With expenses such as a police detail and overtime for DPW personnel, the revenue taken in meant that “we’ll break even,” said Marcotte.

“So you’ll be off the hook,” said Select Board member Adam Dash referring to Select Chair Roy Epstein’s pledge to pay off any deficit saying he was confident that people would not be troubled by a small fee.

For Epstein, the more important outcome of Saturday’s event is that it has “shown its proof of concept.”

XMas Tree Pickup Starts Jan 4; Special Cardboard Drop-Off Set For Jan . 9

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Photo: Residents have two weeks to have their trees collected.

Belmont’s Department of Public Works has announced the times and dates for a pair of yearly seasonal services: picking up your Christmas trees and collecting your cardboard.

Curbside Christmas tree collection starts on Monday, Jan. 4, and ends on Jan 14. Trees will be collected on your trash day for those two weeks. Trees need to be free of ornaments, bags, wiring, lights, and stands. After those two weeks, residents will need to call Waste Management (800-972-4545) for a bulky pick-up by noon the day before your trash day. 

Cardboard Drop-Off will take place on Saturday, Jan. 9 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the DPW yard located at 37 C St. off of Waverley Street.

There will be a $5 fee per vehicle.

Contact information will be required for contact tracing purposes. 

The DPW is encouraging contactless payment by requiring pre-registration and payment for the event. Please use the attached link for pre-registration. https://belmontma.myrec.com/info/activities/program_details.aspx?ProgramID=29888

  • Prior to arriving at the event, all residents who have not paid on-line, should be ready with a check (payable to the “Town of Belmont”) or cash, and on a separate sheet of paper, provide the town contact information including your name, address, and phone number.
  • Cardboard will only be accepted from pickup truck beds, trunks, and the back of SUVs. The DPW will not accept cardboard from the seats of vehicles handed to us by residents.
  • Any resident who attempts to or exits a vehicle will be asked to leave.
  • Residents will be required to wear a mask.
  • All town personnel working will be wearing masks and gloves.

January Cardboard Event Will Cost You To Drop Off The Holiday Packaging

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Photo: Cardboard collection day is coming in January.

For the first time since it began two years ago, the next town cardboard event will have something extra: a $5 fee per resident will be required during the next drop off day coming after the holidays in early January.

While his fellow board members believe that including a fee will sow confusion and hard feelings among residents, Board Chair Roy Epstein is so convinced the fee based drop off will be a success, he pledged to make up any deficit out of his own pocket.

The cardboard event – which will be the first since June – will take place on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Department of Public Works Yard at the end of C Street.

Jay Marcotte, Department of Public Works director, restated his opinion of two weeks previous on Nov. 9, that the only practical way to hold the drop off session is on the weekend with a fee to offset the $2,000 the event will cost the town.

“I would never as the department head agree to … getting rid of planned overtime with the expectation that I would still going to offer that service,” said Marcotte, who said residents are increasingly calling his office on when the next cardboard collection day will take place.

(Cardboard drop offs is a relatively new service, starting after the introduction of automated trash pickup in 2018.)

While suggestions were made to have the service during the workweek, “I don’t see how we would be able to safely conduct an event with a couple hundred cars … blocking up Waverly and C streets,” said Marcotte, noting he would be required to take a crew off of their normal work schedule to run the event.

Board member Tom Caputo countered the need for a fee drop off saying imposing onto residents a new cost would simply create confusion and frustration among the citizenry. Epstein felt that his colleague was “underestimating the ability of our residents to deal with something as simple as a cardboard program.”

“We’re talking about 200 or 300 households out of 10,000 [in Belmont],” he said. “It’s a convenience for a very small number of people in the scheme of things,” Epstein said.

The Select Board’s Adam Dash pondered if holding a potentially money losing fee-based event was worth doing in the first place. At $5 a pop, it’s unlikely the town will see the 300 vehicles needed to break even, said Dash.

“I’ll tell you what, Adam, I personally will make up the shortfall. You can quote me on that,” said Epstein.

What all side did agree on was the need for advanced notice to residents via the media and town signage on the new fee.

“We need to be clear why this is ,,, an unusual year and this is an unusual situation and we apologize” for requiring a fee, said Dash.

The DPW will also set up a pre-payment plan using the town’s Recreation Department website – which can accept credit and debit cards – along with information for contact tracing.

That day payments will also be accepted but it will take longer to process those residents due to the information they’ll need to write out the information required by the Health Department.