Questions and answers

The town’s website includes a list of frequently asked questions pertaining to trash and recycling pickup. Here are a few: • Does the town pick up appliances? Appliances and any scrap metal are picked up once per month as a special collection. Metal is recycled separately. • Does the town pick up fence and construction materials? No, construction materials need to be disposed of privately. • Does the town pick up furniture? Most furniture that is not metal may go with regular trash. Please limit to one piece per week. • Does the town pick up electronics? No, electronics including TVs and computer equipment must be brought to the recycling center. • Does the town pick up mattresses and box springs? No, mattresses and box springs must be brought to a mattress collection container at the DPW.”

Are there limitations to what residents can put out for the trash each week?

According to the director of the Barrington Department of Public Works, the town requests that residents only put out one or two large bulky items — chairs, sofas, tables, etc. — with their weekly residential trash.

Barrington resident Rob Gonsalves posed an additional question to the top town official earlier this year: Are residents allowed to put trash curbside if they collected it as part of a side job?

According to an email from DPW Director Alan Corvi, the town does not accept commercial refuse from anyone. 

“Any home that has a building permit for renovations/improvements/addition has to contract with a private vendor for a dumpster for waste collection for the project,” Corvi wrote in a recent email.

Gonsalves documented a situation occurring in his neighborhood for nearly a year. 

In a series of emails to Barrington Town Manager Phil Hervey, Gonsalves described another resident as having a side business cleaning out household or furniture items from homes. 

“Each Monday he puts numerous large items out for trash collection (he has workers do this also), stressing our town’s resources and overworking the Mega team,” Gonsalves wrote, adding that he reported the situation to the previous town manager also. 

“Hoping you will be able to put an end to this wasteful and lawbreaking practice. The trucks get much fuller with this going on and he’s using town resources to aid his side-business. That’s not a good thing and shouldn’t go unnoticed.”

Hervey replied to Gonsalves’s email: “We’ll look into this. If there is an issue we’ll address it.”

A couple months later, Gonsalves checked back for an update. Hervey wrote that they had reviewed the situation and “There is no issue here.”

Gonsalves continued to document the situation. He snapped photos of the curbside trash piles, which often included furniture. 

He later wrote to Hervey, challenging the manager’s ruling: “So if there’s no issue, it would be fine to have my brother who’s a contractor and lives out of town, leave his large refuse at my home for pick-up whenever he needs to?”

A few hours later, Hervey responded.

“The items left at the curb are typical of households,” he wrote. “We will continue to keep an eye on the situation, including items left outside your house given your email below, and take action as needed.”

The response did not phase Gonsalves. 

About a week and a half later, he sent Hervey another email. It included photos of more curbside trash heaps and a suggestion: “Why don’t you ask the MEGA workers what they lug onto the truck each week?” 

The town spends about $1.65 million on residential trash and recycling pickup and disposal each year. MEGA Disposal is the private contractor that removes Barrington residents’ trash and recycling each week. The town’s contract with MEGA included an 8 percent increase for this year, pushing the annual total to $1,194,989. The town has budgeted an additional $460,000 to cover tipping fees for disposal of the garbage at the Johnston landfill.

‘No written limit’

Gonsalves recently asked Hervey for a written description of what items can be left curbside for refuse collection each week. He wrote that he spent a few minutes checking the town’s website and list of ordinances and could not find any clear description. 

“Maybe it exists, but I can't easily find it. Maybe you've looked into this?” Gonsalves wrote. 

He added: “Also, as you had said so far: ‘there is no issue’ and the refuse is ‘typical of households,’  what are those determinations based upon? Where is there a written policy outlining what will or will not be collected?”

In an email response to the Barrington Times, Hervey asked Corvi for a description of the town’s trash pickup policy. The Town Manager also asked Corvi how the town distinguishes between household trash and commercial waste. 

Corvi’s response stipulated that there is no written limit on trash quantity a resident may put out each week. Instead, the town asks that residents restrain from loading more than one or two large, bulky items each week. For house clean-outs, the town requests residents hire a Dumpster company. 

In addition, the town does not accept commercial refuse from anyone, Corvi wrote.