BY JENN McDOWELL

The Hopkinton Recycling Committee hopes a new way to increase recycling and reduce waste disposal costs will entice the town to join 46 others across the state and “get smart.”

The SMART (Save Money And Reduce Trash) program, an Environmental Protection Agency initiative that has caught on in about 7,000 towns around the country to help raise recycling rates to about 40 percent in those towns.

Debbie Augustine, chairman of the Hopkinton Recycling Committee, said that kind of increase in recycling rates could net about $269,000 in revenues to the town between recycling revenues and disposal cost avoidance, based on 2007 costs for waste disposal and recycling pick-up.

A public information meeting on the program will be held at Hopkinton High School’s auditorium on Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 7 p.m.

The program is beneficial for the environment, is economically sound and is a more equitable way of spreading trash disposal costs for the town, Augustine said.

Selectmen are in support of the program, which involves using the purchase of special bags to increase recycling rates and offset disposal fees. The price of the bags is not final, but Augustine said they may cost about $1.50 to $1.75 each, depending on any changes in production costs, and would likely be sold at local stores.

The bags are stronger than regular trash bags, and can fit more garbage. Hopkinton residents would be using these trash bags for regular trash items, with the idea being that the cost would encourage more recycling.

“If people are more mindful of the amount of trash they’re putting in a trash bag, it might encourage them to recycle in general,” Augustine said.

The program, Augustine said, would treat trash collection just like any other utility. It forces individuals to be more responsible for their own contributions to the town’s trash collection costs – some residents are diligent when it comes to recycling, and others are not, but both groups of people pay the same rate.

“Right now, we don’t pay for our neighbor’s telephone bill and we don’t pay for their oil bills and water bills. Why would you want to pay for someone else’s trash bill, especially if you’re doing a really good job recycling?” Augustine said.

Currently, Hopkinton is a member of the Concord Regional Solid Waste/Resource Recovery Cooperative, which serves 27 towns according to the Web site.

Canterbury, one of the cooperative member towns, has begun the SMART bag program and has realized incredible savings, Augustine said.

Other towns in the state, including Lyme, which dropped its waste disposal budget by about $100,000 after the first year in the bag program, are also feeling the lightened load of waste disposal on their wallets.

Out of the 46 New Hampshire towns participating in the program, none have yet voted to rescind it, Augustine said.

More information on the SMART program will be available on the town’s Web site following the informational session on Oct. 22.