By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Now dealing with the effects of the third week of the ongoing strike between the the trash and recycling collectors represented by Teamsters Local 25 and the town’s trash hauler, Republic Services, the pressures caused by the impasse are mounting on local officials and the public alike.
In addition to being the trash and recycling hauler for the town’s residents and all municipal buildings, numerous commercial properties in town, including restaurants, apartment buildings and condominium complex also contract with Republic Services.
The Select Board held an emergency virtual meeting last Thursday morning, July 10 and subsequently held a follow up meeting this past Tuesday, July 15 at 8:15 a.m. to ratify the actions taken during the emergency meeting. Both meetings were held in executive session followed by an open session to update the public on how the town and its Department of Public Works will deal with missed collections and the contract breaches.
As a matter of course, giving the ever-changing nature of the situation, the Select Board has already posted another virtual meeting for today (July 17) at 12:15 p.m. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the board is Monday, July 21.
At the July 10 meeting, Chairman Stephen O’Leary stated during the open session that that the board had directed Town Counsel KP Law to submit a second letter to Republic Services for non-compliance with the town’s trash and recycling contract, which is in effect through June 30, 2026.
The DPW has kept track of the missed routes their personnel have observed as well as the missed homes reported to the DPW by the town’s residents. As of July 10, over 2,000 pickups had not occurred.
While Republic has attempted to outsource collection with replacement workers, it has not been successfully implemented.
The Select Board thanked the community for its continued patience and the frequency of the schedule changes as they continue to do their best to get Republic to comply with the terms of the contract.
Town Administrator Mike Gilleberto stated that they called the July 10 emergency meeting after Republic informed the town earlier that morning that they would not be able to collect any recycling on the Thursday or Friday routes, which was a major change from Republic’s previously reported one-day pick up delays. It was also the second week in a row that those two routes would have their recycling pick up skipped.
To assist the public in dealing with their missed recycling and/or trash, the DPW opened up the DPW yard on Chestnut street as a Drop-Off Center on a limited basis the prior Tuesday and again on Thursday and last Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with proof of residency.
Because the Friday route was the most impacted by this development, Gilleberto stated that the DPW would be mobilizing its own curbside recycling collection in that area of town and a message would be sent out to inform residents who should continue to follow their regular trash schedule.
Gilleberto also thanked DPW Director Joseph Parisi, Operations Manager Chris Deming, Highway Foreman Bill Walsh, Nick Garside (mechanic), and office staff Amy Sonia and Jessey Guarente, noting that all of their work “has been critical in managing this situation.”
Due to the fact that the Thursday and Friday recycling routes were skipped two weeks in a row, Gilleberto and Parisi required Republic to reschedule its recycling routes throughout the current week to prioritize those two routes, thus ensuring that they would not be potentially missed for a third consecution week. It was noted that trash would be picked up on the regular schedule.
The following notice of the “modified curbside recycling pickup schedule” in effect from July 14-18 was posted to the town website and all social media accounts and in reverse 911:
“RECYCLING will be picked up on a delay as follows: On Monday, Thursday’s recycling route will be collected; on Tuesday, Friday’s recycling route will be collected; on Wednesday, Monday’s recycling route will be collected; on Thursday, Tuesday’s recycling route will be collected; on Friday, Wednesday’s recycling route will be collected.
Residents are asked to have trash and recycling curbside by 6:00AM, rather than 6:30AM, to accommodate potential earlier start times. Some residents are reporting delayed pickup. If your trash or recycling is not picked up, please leave it curbside. Thank you for your continued patience and cooperation.”
Townspeople should be aware that future schedule changes are possible and continue to check the town website and taking note of automated updates sent out by the town.