Sudbury Selectmen Reject Shared Transfer Station with Wayland

The Board of Selectmen voted not to approve a consolidated Sudbury/Wayland transfer station, laying to rest , a number of whom reiterated their objections to the possibility at Tuesday night’s Board meeting.

In a public hearing that was a continuation of comments made by residents at the last Board meeting, attendees cited reasons against a combined station ranging from inconvenience to perceived poor management of the Wayland station, and urged the Board to make a motion against station consolidation.

Resident Margaret Boyle cited a petition she initiated that garnered “221 signatures (against the combined station) within five hours and without much effort” as evidence that “people do not want to combine the transfer stations.”

Carol Englender called her experience with the Wayland station “abysmal” and said the “experiment” of the combined stations was “not efficacious.”

“I think it would be a great loss to Sudbury” to close its station, Englender said.

Though largely rejected by those who spoke at the two recent board meetings, the proposed consolidation did have at least one supporter in resident Ron Riggert, who called Wayland’s station “well-managed” and said that while the concept of closing Sudbury’s station was an “emotional issue” for some residents, he found advantages in both the “cost and convenience” of a combined station.

At the conclusion of the public hearing, Selectmen Bob Haarde and Larry O’Brien both approved a motion not to enter into an agreement to merge both towns’ stations and to discontinue the experimental consolidation as of July 1. They also encouraged meeting attendees to “take the positive from the experiment” of having combined the stations temporarily.

“Sudbury does recycle correctly — that much we know,” said Haarde. “How can we take it to the next level?”

Board Chair John Drobinski was unable to attend the meeting but said in a separate conversation that the board’s decision was based on citizens’ “very vocal” disapproval of the collaboration. However, he said, “We will continue to look for other opportunities to regionalize services in ways that meet our residents’ needs.”