Link Environmental to Cease Pawtucket Recycling Transfer Services
Link Environmental to Cease Pawtucket Recycling Transfer Services
Mayor Grebien notes urgency and urges public participation in March 1 public forum on waste issues
PAWTUCKET – Citing unsustainable costs, Link Environmental, the City of Pawtucket’s current waste transfer service provider, notified members of the City on February 22nd of plans to discontinue transferring the city’s waste and single-stream recycling to Rhode Island Resource Recovery Center (RIRRC) in Johnston.
Under a now-expired 60-month contract, Link Environmental hauled the City’s waste away, including single-stream recycling for free, from the Pawtucket Transfer Station to RIRRC. Under the existing daily cap at the current Grotto Avenue Waste Transfer site, the company has been absorbing unsustainable costs to maintain this operation. Link Environmental has formally requested the City Council approve a month-to-month extension of their operating lease, removing the obligations to pay for all fees including the transportation of the City’s single-stream recycling. Without this relief, Link Environmental noted the company will “be unable to continue to operate the Blackstone Valley Regional Transfer Station.”
Beginning March 1, the City of Pawtucket plans to publicly discuss and analyze Pawtucket’s future waste transfer operation through a series of facilitated stakeholder public forums. Led by Bryant University’s non-partisan Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership, the series is designed to weigh all options related to the current Grotto Avenue waste transfer station, and a proposal to build a new state-of-the-art waste transfer facility on Concord Street.
“Now more than ever, we have to address this. The reality is without Link Environmental providing our residents with their services, our City will need to pay $1.3 million a year to provide these needed services to our residents — that’s not in our budget,” said Mayor Grebien. “We have to urgently weight all of our waste transfer station options and determine the best solution for our City, our residents, and our future.”
The first facilitated stakeholder public forum is on Thursday, March 1 at 5:00pm at Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket. More information on the Hassenfeld Institute’s facilitated stakeholder process, the current Grotto Avenue waste transfer station, and the proposed Concord Street waste transfer facility can be found here: http://www.pawtucketri.
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