Once Free, Bulky Items, Mattresses Will Now Cost Residents To Have Them Taken Away

Photo: This will cost you to be removed come July 1 (Credit: Jeffrey M. Vinocur, Wikimedia Commons)

It’s a claim to fame Belmont wants to shed: The Town of Homes is where residents of neighboring towns throw out their threadbare mattresses and large, oversized items at no cost due to Belmont’s tradition of complimentary sidewalk collection.

“We have become the dumping ground for surrounding communities to deposit their mattresses for free,” said Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne. And the ‘dump and run’ practice has reached a level beyond a nuisance, said Jay Marcotte, head of Belmont’s DPW.

In a move that Dionne hopes “will stop [Belmont] from bearing externality of other town’s large item trash,” beginning July 1, if you want a mattress, bookcase, or anything that can’t be stuffed into your trash cart, it’s gonna cost you after the Select Board unanimously approved the new fee structure.

Marcotte presented the suggested new payments for three catagories of pickups come July 1.

Change in cost to remove bulky items Prices for Pickups before July 1, 2025Prices for Pickups after July 1, 2025
Mattress/Box springFree$50
Bulk itemsfree (one per week)$40
Appliances$25 $40, $55 for televisions

Marcotte said under the new plan, residents will call the town, which will coordinate the pickup and take the payment. Residents should know that if they contact Waste Management, the town’s waste and recycling provider, to take away a mattress or box spring, it will cost double the town’s rate. The town is working with a outside vendor to recycle each mattress. Marcotte said the new fees will only generate enough revenue to cover the contrasted costs of the vendors.

Waste Management will continue to manage bulk items and appliance pickups under the new payment structure.

Marcotte said information on the updated costs for mattress and bulk item removal will be sent to residents with their next municipal bills and on the DPW’s website.

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

Photo: Mattress removal is a popular service, says Belmont DPW (Credit: Rubbish computerCC 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.