Marion’s Hazardous Waste Day goes smoothly

Nov 16, 2019

MARION — After extensive planning, a Hazardous Waste Day at Marion’s Benson Brook Transfer Station went smoothly on Nov. 16. 

The waste day was put on by the Carver, Marion Wareham Regional Refuse Disposal District, but run by Town of Marion employees, ACV Enviro, a waste disposal company, and a selectman. 

“It’s going really well compared to what happened with Wareham,” said Town Administrator Jay McGrail, who was there to check cars in along with Selectman Norm Hills. 

Wareham held a similar hazardous waste day in June, which was marked by huge backups, accidents, and many people who waited for hours to drop off waste only to be turned away. 

McGrail said that after the last hazardous waste day, the District and town spent a lot of time preparing for this one, to make sure cars didn’t back up traffic on Route 6, or that the town had a plan if they did. 

The Town Administrator said when he arrived at 6:50 a.m. there were already five cars in line. The traffic reached the end of Benson Brook Road at one point, but collectors started to work more efficiently at that point and they were able to avoid Route 6 spillover. Traffic remained consistent throughout much of the morning, and only about a dozen people were turned away for bringing regular household trash when they were not supposed to. 

Joe Ayres works for the Marion Department of Public Works, and was there supervising the unloading. He said that after collection ended, he and the ACV workers would sort the last of the items into boxes on pallets. He would then use a backhoe to bring those pallets to a semi-trailer, which would haul the waste away. 

He said that people taking the time to dispose of hazardous materials properly was much better than throwing them in with regular trash, having Covanta SEMASS, which takes the District’s trash, burn them, and then having those chemicals get in the air. 

No new cars were allowed to get in line after noon, but those in line were able to drop off their waste even after noon. 

The waste district also accepted hazardous waste in Carver.