The city is telling me to pay $2 for a trash bag. What kind of deal is that?

I’ll tell you why it’s a great deal. First off, because of that $2 trash bag ($1.50 for a small one), our taxes are not going up this year. The second benefit of the trash bag is that it will pay for curbside recycling, which is what most residents want.

Pay-as-you-throw is fair. Soon, most everyone who generates trash will pay only for the trash they generate, not their neighbors. If we put out one bag of trash a week and our neighbor puts out five bags per week, why would we want to pay for our neighbor’s trash removal? We pay for the amount of electricity and gas we use. Why shouldn’t we pay for the amount of trash we ask the city to pick up?

The $2 trash bag is big, really big, and it will take longer to fill than you think because the recycling program works hand-in-hand with PAYT.

I think most everyone will discover that most of what they used to put in the trash can now be recycled so they’ll need fewer trash bags.

Curbside recycling and PAYT is not something that Waterville dreamed up. It is a program that has been successfully implemented in thousands of cities across the United States.

For me, the most important aspect of the program is its environmental benefits.

Even people who don’t believe in climate change can agree that we are unnecessarily fouling the planet by our consumptive habits and poor energy choices. Embracing PAYT and recycling improve the quality of life for everyone.

That $2 I just spent on a trash bag is money well spent.

Stuart Silverstein

Waterville