Watertown residents will be allowed to put out more trash bags than fit in their toters for one week only, and in January they can put out Christmas trees.
The Department of Public Works sent out the following announcements, and also noted that trash and recycling collection will be delayed by a day the first week of January.
Extra Trash
We understand that households often generate some extra trash during the holiday season.
For this reason, we are allowing OVERFLOW trash bag pickup during the holiday week of Tuesday, January 3 through Saturday, January 7, 2023.
Residents may put up to THREE extra bags of household trash out with their trash barrels for collection.
There is a one-day delay in trash/recycling collection that week, as noted on the 2023 calendar, available at watertown-ma.gov/trash
Christmas Tree Collection
Public Works will collect and chip Christmas trees during the month of January only. Place the tree at the curb on your regular trash collection day. Please make sure to remove all lights and ornaments, and do NOT put the tree in a bag. The city will only collect the tree itself.
I have heard that many goat farms in MA are collecting discarded Christmas trees for the goats to nibble on. Apparently the trees are a real treat for them. I don’t know if the trash disposal company Watertown uses helps with this cause. It would save a lot of landfill and do good for the goats too.
Goats certainly seem to be beneficial in so many ways. We get cheese from them and they actually eat poison ivy and clear it from unwelcome areas when they are lent out. Let’s help make their New Year happy too along with ours!
Thanks to Facilities for allowing 3 extra bags of trash in the first week of January to allow households to get rid of some of results of the holidays. Next year, can we also get recycling pick-up for 2 weeks in a row in January? Much of the trash generated in the holiday season is cardboard and paper packaging and is recyclable. I know, because those bags are translucent and I can see what people are throwing out in some bags. Having only garbage pick up encourages people to dump recyclable items into the landfill.