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Trustees set aside $15,000 from bag-fee fund for community waste-reduction pilot
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Summary
The board authorized $15,000 from the town's bag-fee fund to seed a community-run pilot program soliciting local waste-reduction proposals; the environmental board will manage the process and report back in October 2027.
Trustees approved a $15,000 appropriation from the town's bag-fee fund to create a community waste-reduction pilot program, the Environmental Board told the board on May 2.
Beth Shoemaker of the Environmental Board described the proposal: set aside funds, run a community call for proposals, and then implement selected projects that demonstrate local waste-diversion strategies. "We would love to manage that kind of process," Shoemaker said, describing goals of community buy‑in and small-scale projects that could later scale.
Kevin (eBoard) gave an example: the middle school composting project, where switching utensils and magnetic lids on bins would cost roughly $3,200 and could be a model for other schools. Trustees discussed fund balance and the need to record expenditures to match the fund’s purpose; staff reported the bag-fee fund has a balance that can support the appropriation for a few years but warned revenues may decline as reusable bag use increases.
Trustee Christina moved to appropriate $15,000; the motion passed unanimously. The board asked that the Environmental Board reserve a portion for advertising the grant opportunity and that larger projects consider external grants (town staff offered to help identify state grant opportunities).
Next steps: the Environmental Board will advertise the grant opportunity, accept community proposals, implement chosen pilots and report deliverables back to the trustees for review in October 2027.
