Towns try sharing of transfer stations

Sudbury and Wayland last month launched a pilot program enabling residents in each community to make use of the other town’s transfer station.

Previously, both transfer stations, which are located within a quarter-mile of each other, had been open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Under the pilot program, one transfer station will be closed on Tuesdays and the other will be closed on Thursdays. On those two days, residents of the town in which the transfer station is closed will be able to deliver trash and recyclable materials to the other town’s station.

The pilot program, which is scheduled to conclude before next spring’s town meeting, could lead to a decision to jointly bid the waste-hauling contracts for the towns or even merge the operation of the transfer stations, according to Sudbury Town Manager Maureen Valente.

“There are a whole lot of questions that have to be answered before we get to this, but you’ve got to take those first steps and learn where the challenges are,” Valente said.

She added that even if the pilot program fails to reveal potential cost savings, sharing the two transfer stations could still make sense as a means of enhancing customer service through expanded operating hours.

Sudbury and Wayland already use the same park and recreation director, and for a time they shared a facility for processing septic-tank waste.

“We used to be one town,” said Valente, referring to a shared history that dates to the settlement of Sudbury Plantation in 1639. “We have many similarities.”