WOOLWICH

As the town of Woolwich prepares to implement Pay As You Throw on Sept. 1, it is clear that there are still mixed feelings about the new program.

On Monday night, Woolwich resident Don Adams presented a petition to the board of selectmen to put the waste and recycling program on the November ballot, which would ask community members to vote in favor of or against the program once more.

The program requires local residents to purchase special orange bags printed with the town’s seal to dispose of their trash, available for purchase at 15- gallon bags in rolls of 10 for $10 or 30-gallon bags in rolls of five for $10.

Adams had acquired 197 signatures for his petition as of Monday night.

“People are upset about this and they can’t understand why you want to let this thing stand as was voted on at Town Meeting,” he said.

Following Town Meeting in May, several residents, Adams included, expressed concern that PAYT had appeared to be voted down through a vocal vote and card count until a secret ballot was requested for clarification, approving the program by a 114-105 margin.

Adams also claimed there was a man in town who admitted to holding five ballots during the vote at Town Meeting.

“That vote was wrong,” he said.

At a selectboard meeting in June, chairman David King had clarified that residents can challenge the moderator on any vote, with the support of six other voters, before the end of Town Meeting. No protests had been made at that time.

King said the petition will go through as long as Adams submits it 45 days before voting day with the required amount of signatures.

Adams said he would have no trouble acquiring more if it was necessary.

In the event that PAYT was repealed through the November vote, selectman Jason Shaw added that the town would be required to hold a special town meeting to discuss the town’s waste budget.

About $30,000 that was cut from the budget this year, due to the expected success of the program, would have to be restored, according to King.

“That means we won’t have that available to offset taxes next year,” he said. “The town is going to be on the hook for the balance of the contract with the company we signed … (and) the cost of the bags that we’ve already received, and we’re going to have to put 30-some thousand dollars back into the trash budget. So it’s going to be very expensive to get out of it right off.”

King said the town voted to start recycling five or six years ago, but with such low participation in recent years, the purpose of PAYT was to help motivate residents to recycle more.

“You’re standing there with a dog food can in your hand and you can wash it out and put it in recycling, or you can toss it in the trash because trash is free. It is not free,” he said. “We have the most expensive system to remove trash that anybody can have right now. What we’re hoping is with PAYT, people will look at that can and now that they’ve got to throw it in a bag that they’re paying two bucks for, they’ll wash it out and put it in recycling.”

He hoped residents would give PAYT a chance.

“I was very much in hope that people would let PAYT go for a full year — to see if we’re really going to realize the savings that we expected,” King said.

Bags are currently available at various locations for purchase, including Cumberland Farms in Woolwich, Shaw’s Supermarkets in Bath and Wiscasset, the Wiscasset Clipper Mart, Ames True Value Hardware Supply in Wiscasset and Roger’s Ace Hardware in Bath.

dkim@timesrecord.com