Brookline awards five-year trash-and-recycling contract to Casella; resident fees to rise

The Brookline Select Board voted Tuesday to award a five‑year municipal solid waste and recycling contract to Casella Waste Management of Massachusetts and to raise residential sanitation fees starting July 1, 2025.

The measures were presented by Erin Chute, Commissioner of Public Works, who said the town negotiated a contract that she and staff judged most competitive and that the rate changes are intended to maintain service reliability while stabilizing the program's budget. “Our proposal is founded on our goal to provide efficient, reliable, predictable, and sustainable sanitation services,” Chute said.

Why this matters: Brookline faces persistent staffing shortages, an aging truck fleet and a high number of work‑related injuries in the town’s in‑house sanitation operation. DPW officials said those operational risks and long lead times for heavy equipment make a contracted collection model the safer, more predictable choice even though the full cost comparison shows a small difference in favor of keeping collection in‑house when looking only at direct collection costs.

Contract and service scope: The board approved a five‑year contract covering fiscal years 2026–2030 with a total five‑year value of $26,356,829 and a FY26 budgeted commitment of $4,792,000. The contract will cover collection of municipal solid waste (trash), single‑stream recycling and bulky/white goods pickup. Yard‑waste pickup will remain an in‑house DPW function, the board was told.

DPW’s assessment and rationale: Deputy Commissioner Kevin Johnson and Solid Waste Advisory Committee Chair John Dempsey joined Chute in briefing the board. They said DPW currently fields nine sanitation positions but has four filled (one on extended leave), leaving insufficient staff to sustain reliable in‑house weekly collection without substantial additional hiring and fleet investment. Chute described frequent injuries and long absences in recent years and said contracting reduces the town’s liability exposure and preserves DPW capacity for other public‑works tasks.

Fees and financial plan: To cover the contract and program costs while keeping a predictable revenue share, the board approved changes to the refuse fee schedule effective July 1, 2025. Initial FY26 increases range from about 10% to 12% depending on cart size (35‑gallon, 65‑gallon, 95‑gallon), with a proposed 4% annual adjustment in subsequent years through FY30. DPW said the structure aims to incentivize smaller carts and to stabilize the town/taxpayer subsidy at roughly a 70/30 split (resident fees / tax support) over the contract term.

Other program changes: DPW also raised fees for special pickups (white goods, electronics), set a $65 mattress pickup/recycling fee (state‑mandated recycling), and kept a $65 cart swap fee. Staff reported that modest fees for bulky pickups substantially reduced curbside dumping in prior years.

Board discussion and dissent: Select Board members probed the financial tradeoffs and noted the contract would likely cost more in absolute dollars than continued in‑house collection when comparing only direct collection costs. Chute and Johnson responded that unquantified liabilities, recruitment and retention costs, vehicle replacement needs and the operational impacts on other DPW services justify the contract. Members also asked about employee transitions; DPW said it intends to keep existing employees in town employment where possible and will assist staff who wish to pursue contractor employment.

Vote: The board approved the five‑year contract and the FY26 fee schedule; recorded votes were unanimous in favor.

What’s next: The contract starts July 1, 2025. DPW said it will continue to monitor service levels, revisit the fee schedule if needed, and work with the Solid Waste Advisory Committee on further incentives for waste reduction.