Today’s numbers are 1,918 and 1,964 – the average pounds of trash per household generated in the towns of Andover and North Andover for curbside collection in 2024. That’s nearly a ton a year.
With Andover converting to automated curbside pickup this month, there’s a lot of trash talk going around. For years, Andover has generated more curbside trash than the vast majority of the 14 towns to which it compares itself.
At a Select Board meeting last November, Town Manager Andrew Flanagan said the town hopes the new system enacted under a new five-year contract with Republic Services will contribute to a reduction. At the time, he said the town paid $2.482 million annually for curbside collection and $1.058 million for disposal fees.
Under the new system, the motley array of roadside trash barrels and blue recycling bins has been replaced by blue 65-gallon trash toters and green 95-gallon recycling toters, all featuring the town seal. Each household received one of each free. Additional trash toters will cost households $75 apiece. Added recycling toters will be free of charge. Residents can also request free, 35-gallon bins if the standard bins are too big.
Trash pickup service in Andover regularly receives high marks from residents in periodic town surveys.
Among factors contributing to Andover’s high volume trash pickups are free collection of one bulky item per week and a 12-week free yard-waste pickup window, Flanagan said, features some other towns do not offer or provide on a more limited basis.
Some towns also charge for annual permit fees or pay-as-you-throw disposal bags used at drop-off transfer stations and recycling centers as a user-fee type vehicle to reduce overall municipal costs.
The following table lists 2024 figures for towns to which Andover compares itself, taken from the annual survey conducted by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. The survey includes more than 100 variables for trash disposal in each town. The per household figure for each town was calculated using the total tonnage collected and the number of households served.
| Town | Households | Trash Tonnage | Avg. pounds per household |
| ANDOVER | 10607 | 10,174.90 | 1918.5 |
| Acton | 4256 | 1,889.90 | 888.1 |
| Arlington | 20,311 | 10,710 | 1054.6 |
| Bedford | 4726 | 3,438.20 | 1455 |
| Concord | 3670 | 2,160.80 | 1177.5 |
| Hingham | 8,823 | 5,118.40 | 1160.2 |
| Lexington | 11271 | 7,838 | 1390.8 |
| Marblehead | 8000 | 8,986.20 | 1123.3 |
| Natick | 10732 | 5,785 | 1078.1 |
| Needham | 5500 | 2,345 | 852.7 |
| Newburyport | 7948 | 5287.4 | 1330.5 |
| NORTH ANDOVER | 8200 | 8,054.40 | 1964.5 |
| Norwell | 3595 | 2,603.90 | 1281.7 |
| Wellesley | 9126 | 4,876 | 1068.6 |
| Winchester | 5027 | 4,609 | 1833.7 |
Source: Massachusetts DEP survey