Trash, recycling rates jump 9% as town taps electric truck option
Increases took effect July 1 and will hit each base-rate subscriber for an extra $46.08 over the next year.
Acton trash and recycling customers are facing a 9% rate hike.
Increases took effect July 1 and will hit each base-rate subscriber for an extra $46.08 over the next year.
Despite the change, Acton Public Works interim director Aaron Miklosko said the town still offers “competitive” service compared with private options.
Acton is entering the final year of its contract with hauler Waste Management. Just over two-thirds of eligible properties use the town option, Miklosko told the Public Works Commission last month.
Rates are rising, in part, because Waste Management will charge Acton 4.5% more over the next fiscal year than it did in fiscal ’26. Officials expect to pay an additional $107,000 from their nearly $2.5 million budget to have Waste Management operate an electric truck in place of a diesel vehicle on a route serving town and school buildings, Miklosko said.
Acton Municipal Light Plant will charge roughly $83,000 to manage newly implemented monthly billing.
The town offers a standard trash-and-recycling subscription and a recycling-only option. Residents can pay for additional toters if their primary bins aren’t big enough.
People can also buy single-use “overflow tags” to have workers pick up extra bags of trash alongside their bins. The tag price is the only cost exempt from this year’s 9% rate hike.
The PWC unanimously approved rates at its June meeting.
The commission’s hearing came after voters at April’s Town Meeting supported creating a municipal composting program.
Asked about potential program changes and whether Waste Management will offer composting, Miklosko cited upcoming contract negotiations and told the PWC, “those are all conversations we will have” over the next calendar year.
