No person shall dump or deposit any refuse or waste material
upon any privately owned property in the Town without permission of
the owner of said property.
Having voted to close the Town's landfill effective May 1, 1985,
and having authorized the Select Board members (Board of Health) to
enter into a long-term contract with SEMASS for the delivery to and
disposal of solid waste, including garbage, at a solid waste disposal
facility to be constructed, operated and owned by SEMASS in Rochester,
Massachusetts; and recognizing that solid waste, particularly garbage,
"is widely regarded as an actual and potential source of disease or
detriment to the public good" and that, therefore, a "municipality,
acting for the common good of all, (may)... either take over itself
or confine to a single person (firm) or corporation the collection,
transportation...and final disposition of a commodity which so easily
may become a nuisance (with the result that) private interests must
yield to that which is established for the general benefit of all,"
it is the purpose of this bylaw to:
A. Define the public's responsibility.
B. Authorize the Select Board members to publicly let a contract to
a single contractor for the collection and delivery of solid waste
to an approved sanitary landfill outside the geographical limits of
Sharon until SEMASS's solid waste disposal facility is constructed
and in operation (presently estimated sometime between March 1, 1986,
and September 1, 1989) and thereafter to a solid waste disposal facility
or transfer station for retransfer to such a facility, operated and
owned by SEMASS.
C. Ensure the service provided the public is safe, economical and comprehensive.
D. Ensure that the charges to the public are just, fair, reasonable
and adequate to provide necessary public service.
The owner of each building from which solid waste is collected
shall be responsible for the prompt payment of all fees charged by
the contractor for the collection of solid waste from that building.
The penalty for violation of this bylaw shall be as follows:
A. For the
first offense: $50;
B. For the
second offense: $100; and
C. For each
subsequent offense: $200.
The invalidity, unconstitutionality or unenforceability of any
section, subsection or provision of this bylaw shall not affect or
impair any other section, subsection or provision.
The Select Board members are authorized to establish a fund
to be known as the "Tipping Fee Escrow Fund." The contractor shall
be directed to regularly deposit into this fund, on at least a monthly
basis or as otherwise specified by the Town, the amounts due under
the contract for defraying the cost of SEMASS tipping fees and household
hazardous waste collection. The Town, through the Department of Public
Works, shall use the monies in this fund to pay tipping fees due to
SEMASS and to pay for the cost of household hazardous waste collections.
In the event that Town-sponsored recycling programs reduce the amounts
of solid waste disposed of at SEMASS, the Select Board members may
authorize the expenditure of amounts not needed for tipping fees or
household hazardous waste collection to defray the costs of Town-sponsored
recycling efforts or Town beautification projects. In no case shall
the amount expended for these purposes exceed the tipping fee times
the number of tons of solid waste that has been certified as recycled
according to the SEMASS master agreement.
[Added 5-6-2019 ATM by
Art. 23]
A. Purpose. The purpose of this bylaw is to protect the Town of Sharon's
natural beauty and irreplaceable natural resources by reducing the
number of single-use plastic check-out bags that are distributed and
used in the Town of Sharon, and by promoting the use of reusable bags.
B. Definitions.
CHECK-OUT BAG
Shall mean a bag provided by a store to a customer at the
point of sale. Check-out bags shall not include bags, whether plastic
or not, in which loose produce or products are placed by the consumer
to deliver such items to the point of sale or check out area of the
store.
RECYCLABLE PAPER BAG
Shall mean a paper bag that is 100% recyclable and contains
at least 40% post-consumer recycled content, and displays in a visible
manner on the outside of the bag (1) the word "recyclable" or a symbol
identifying the bag as recyclable and (2) a label identifying the
bag as being made from post-consumer recycled content and the percentage
of post-consumer recycled content in the bag.
RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT
Shall mean any business facility that sells goods directly
to the consumer, whether for or not for profit, including, but not
limited to, retail stores, restaurants, pharmacies, convenience and
grocery stores, liquor stores, seasonal and temporary businesses.
REUSABLE CHECK-OUT BAG
Shall mean a sewn bag with stitched handles that is specifically
designed for multiple reuse and that:
(1)
Can carry 25 pounds over a distance of 300 feet;
(2)
Can be washed or disinfected; and
(3)
Is made of either:
(a)
Natural fibers such as cotton; or
(b)
Durable, nontoxic plastic, that is generally considered a food-grade
material (i.e., not polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride), and is more
than four mils thick.
THIN-FILM, SINGLE-USE PLASTIC CHECK-OUT BAGS
Shall mean those bags that are less than 4.0 mils thick,
constructed of high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene
(LDPE), linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), polyvinyl chloride
(PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), or polypropylene (other than
woven and nonwoven polypropylene fabric), and typically with handles.
TOWN OFFICIAL
Shall mean an official within the Sharon Board of Health
or Health Department.
C. Regulated conduct.
(1) No retail establishment in the Town of Sharon shall provide thin-film,
single-use plastic check-out bags to customers.
(2) If a retail establishment provides or sells check-out bags to customers,
the bags must be one of the following:
(3) Retail establishments that make available exempt thin-film plastic bags, as described in Subsection
D below, are required to provide for in-store collection and proper recycling of returned thin-film plastic bags (with the exception of bags used to wrap and transport meat). In-store collection locations must be prominently displayed and easily accessible. Retail establishments with a floor area less than 3,500 square feet that make available exempt thin-film plastic bags are not required to provide for in-store collection/recycling of these bags if another drop off location or no-fee option is available in the Town of Sharon.
D. Exemptions. Thin-film plastic bags, typically without handles, which
are used to contain newspapers, produce, meat, bulk foods, wet items,
dry cleaning, and other similar merchandise are not prohibited under
this bylaw.
E. Enforcement.
(1) The Town official shall have the authority to administer and enforce
this bylaw.
(2) The enforcing authority, upon a determination that a violation of
the bylaw has occurred, shall issue a written notice to the establishment
specifying the violation, in the form of either a warning or fine
according to the following schedule:
(a)
For the first violation, a written warning.
(b)
For the second violation, a fine of $50.
(c)
For the third and subsequent violations, a fine of $100.
(3) No more than one penalty shall be imposed upon a retail establishment
within a seven-calendar-day period.
F. Effective dates. This bylaw shall take effect six months after approval
of the bylaw by the Attorney General or on November 6, 2019, whichever is later, for retail
establishments with a floor area equal to or exceeding 3,500 square
feet or with at least two locations under the same name within the
Town of Sharon that total 3,500 square feet or more. This bylaw shall
take effect one year after approval by the Attorney General for retail
establishments less than 3,500 square feet. The Town Official may
exempt a retail establishment from the requirements of this section
for a period of up to six months upon a finding by the Town Official
that (1) the requirements of this section would cause undue hardship;
or (2) a retail establishment requires additional time in order to
draw down an existing inventory of thin-film, single-use check-out
plastic bags.
G. Regulations. The Town Official may adopt and amend rules and regulations
to effectuate the purposes of this bylaw.
H. Severability. If any provision of this bylaw is declared invalid
or unenforceable the other provisions shall not be affected thereby.