Select Board Endorses Pay-As-You-Throw Trash Carts
Select Board · Meeting of September 15, 2026
Shutesbury Select Board endorses pay-as-you-throw trash carts and confronts an unreported solar fire. The board voted unanimously to back the Recycling and Solid Waste Committee's rationale for switching from bags to wheeled carts, a change haulers are mandating statewide by around July 2028, with one-time cart costs near $150,000 offset by roughly $30,000 in state grants. A joint session with Fire Chief Lenny Ward and the Planning Board revealed that operator XTERRA never notified local firefighters of an April inverter fire at the Wheelock solar and battery site on Pratt Corner Road; Ward said he "drove around town looking at the smoke" trying to find it.
Officials want the stone fire buffer widened from five feet to 10 or 15 feet given PFAS in the batteries. Finance Committee Chair AJ warned keeping next year's tax-bill increase "at $500 or less is going to be a challenge."
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 3,480 words
Source: the Select Board meeting of September 15, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Keep reading with a 30-day free trial
Subscribe to Franklin County News to keep reading this post and get 30 days of free access to the full post archives.
Starting a trial requires a payment method. After 30 free days your subscription begins at the price shown at checkout and renews automatically until you cancel. You can cancel anytime from your account. Subscription terms
A subscription gets you:
- Subscriber-only posts and full archive
- Post comments and join the community
- 24x7 access to local news