PITTSFIELD, Mass. - On Wednesday, the City of Pittsfield held the first of four community meetings scheduled on the new toter trash collection system starting in Pittsfield.

What You Need To Know

  • The City of Pittsfield is hosting an informational meeting for the new trash process

  • Mayor Peter Marchetti informed people of the new process Wednesday

  • The new system will start next month

  • People can find out more information on the city's website

These meetings are to help answer any questions and concerns regarding the new pickup system with Casella starting next month.

Some residents like Jack Laviolette told Spectrum News 1 they are ready for the new system and have seen it work in other communities.

“I’m ready for it and its more with change comes with an adjustment and I do believe our community will adjust cause I think it’s going to be better in the long run I think it’s going to be safe for the people collecting the trash, I think it’s the way to go,” said Laviolette.

The new system will provide people with a 48-gallon recycling and trash tote that will be picked up with an automated truck with mechanical arms.

Some residents like Ginny Coppola think the change is great and won’t affect her that much.

“It is a great program and as far as the toters are concerned, the garbage it’s probably the same size of what we use now at home anyway. So, it’s not bigger it’s not smaller and I think in the long run its going to help the citizens of Pittsfield,” Coppola said.

The new recycling totes will be starting the week of Sept. 11 while the trash totes will roll out the week of October 16th. The daily collection schedule will not change for residents.

“It provides an orderly clean trash process I think it levels the playing field for all of us that have been using trash pickup and it kind of says everybody is paying for the exact same amount of trash to be disposed,” said Mayor Peter Marchetti.

The mayor says this new program will save the city about $80,000 a year in collection process and even more savings depending on if the city can increase recycling.

“The city is currently recycling at nine percent were aiming to go from 9 to 25% in the first batch of trying to make improvements and that will result in $600,000 worth of savings,” Marchetti said.

The City of Pittsfield is holding three more educational meetings to prepare people for the change and encouraging people to reach out with questions or find out more on their website.

The toters will be dropped off right to service addresses. 

The next three meetings are:

Monday, Sept. 9 at 6 p.m. Morningside Community School.

Thursday, Sept. 12 at 6 p.m. at Reid Middle School.

Monday, Sept. 16 at 6 p.m. at Berkshire Athenaeum.