On Feb. 24, the Woolwich Solid Waste and Recycling Committee (SW&RC) met as it does each month to monitor and consider how this inland pennisular town disposes of and recycles the waste that we, roughly 3,000 Mainers, not counting dogs and cats, or Llamas for that matter, regularly produce. This committee recommended last spring that the townspeople vote at our annual Town Meeting whether or not to implement a Pay-As-You- Throw (PAYT) system of trash collection to enhance recycling and reduce the amount of waste being hauled to either incinerators or landfills.

In a contentious and chaotic series of votes by voice (“It fails”), by a show of hands (“It’s too close to call”) and finally by written ballot, the warrant narrowly passed and PAYT was put into practice in September 2016. In the first month PAYT outpaced the most optimistic proponents by reducing waste by 46 percent and doubling the amount of recycled materials. Enhanced by income from the sale of PAYT bags, the program was on track to save the town over $120,000 in its fiscal year, money that had been designated by the selectboard to reduce the town’s property tax rate.

Not so fast. Some townspeople were either disturbed by the voting process, or the behavior of the Moderator and selectboard during the meeting, or the length of the contract with Waste Zero, which administered PAYT, or the impact that PAYT would have on people with modest resources or special needs, or wanting other alternatives considered. A citizens’ petition gathered enough signatures in October to pose the question: “Shall the Town repeal the “Pay As You Throw” (PAYT) contract between the Town of Woolwich, Maine and Waste Zero — Waste Trash Metering Service?” Though the SW&RC reported the effectiveness of PAYT, voters repealed it on Election Day it by a narrow margin. PAYT ended with the last pickup in January.

That contract was ended, but not the challenge to reduce what winds up in landfills/incinerators and to increase composting/recycling. The SW&RC spent a good portion of its meeting debating whether or not to once again recommend that PAYT be put to a vote at this year’s Town Meeting. The committee was divided equally pro and con, and so the deciding vote was mine as chairperson. I knew what I wanted. For me and my family, my neighbors, this corner of creation and future generations. I wanted our town to reduce waste, to find new, creative ways to recycle and reuse, and to give back to the earth and others who have given of their very substance so that might live.

Why then was I sitting there silent? Why hesitate?

PAYT was the carrot (reduced taxes) and stick (pay per bag) that we needed. It an effective tool that motivated me and my family to change our behavior, and it worked on a town-wide basis.

In those seconds I also remembered the anger, rudeness, and sore feelings expressed during Town Meetings and workshops, and the frustrations and divisiveness among neighbors. I saw the embarrassed hurt that a subtle rolling of the eyes left on many faces. These are same people who I see care for each other: a delivery of firewood that was not asked for, a ride to the clinic, a heartfelt handshake at the creaky door in the back of the church, a stone wall restored to honor service, a generator started to bring a little light, and in the middle of so many losses of family, jobs, dreams, and animals a shared courage, like laughter at Ames, a spring of hope.

I found my voice right there. PAYT was not the point. It was simply a strategy, a “pay per bag” stick to get Woolwich to move in the right direction. I want more for us. I want us to move in the right direction together. “I vote in opposition of the recommendation. The motion is defeated. The next item on our agenda…”

Woolwich has come a long way in how we handle waste, but we have not finished. With an eye to cost, another to convenience, and both eyes on our impact on this earth that gives us life, the SW&RC is working on how to improve our effort. Can we increase recycling and shrink tipping fees without PAYT? If it is feasible for us to create a transfer station system for trash and recycling, what will we do until it becomes a reality? Those who attend the Town Meeting will have the next vote on a step forward.

But don’t wait for the Town Meeting or the November election to vote. Every time you place an item in a bin you cast a vote. So, vote early and vote often. Reuse when you can; and when you can’t, compost it; if it won’t break down, recycle it; and when all else fails, put it in a trash bag.

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Jonathan Appleyard is the chairman of the Woolwich Solid Waste and Recycling Committee.