Woolwich selectmen are seeing green in a ton or so of orange plastic trash bags left over from Pay As You Throw. They’re offering them for sale by the roll or the carton with proceeds to benefit the town’s recreation department, special events committee and solid waste and recycling account.

Selectmen are selling them for 28 cents a bag regardless of size.  The bags, made in the U.S., come in large (30-gallon) and small (15-gallon) sizes and are packaged in rolls of 10.

“I’d like for some of the money from the sale of the bags to go towards helping fund the rec and special events committee,” said Selectmen’s Chairman David King Sr. when he pitched the idea Monday night.

Selectmen were left holding the bags after voters rejected a petitioned article that would have returned PAYT at the May 7 annual town meeting. Passing the measure would have required residents to pay for curbside trash pickup.

Woolwich was forced to buy back the bags from WasteZero, PAYT’s administrator when the program ended in January. The town paid WasteZero $10,547 for three pallets of trash bags and another $520 for other bags remaining in inventory. The town office refunded another $946 to residents who returned bags, and paid out $2,710 to six retailers for their unsold bags.

“Anything we can make on the bags will benefit the town's bottom line,” Selectman Allison Hepler commented after the meeting. “Regarding trash and recycling, I am hopeful that the town's Solid Waste and Recycling Committee can develop some solutions that will increase recycling and reduce material going into the landfills,” she added.

For the present the only place the trash bags are available are at the town office, where three pallets are sitting in the basement.

Other business

Selectman Lloyd Coombs commended Town Clerk Janice Bradford and her team of ballot clerks for their work at the May 7 annual town meeting. “The town meeting form of government is alive and well in Woolwich,” he commented. Over 300 residents attended.

The board plans to continue holding its town meeting on a Saturday rather than a weeknight. Selectmen have tentatively set next year’s annual town meeting for the last Saturday in April.

The town is advertising for a tax collector and deputy town clerk following the resignation of Jean Mank. Applications with a cover letter and resume must be received by the town office by 4 p.m., June 3.

Selectmen signed off on the Regional School Unit 1 budget warrant to be voted on at the June 14 election. A public hearing on the school budget will be held at Bath Middle School at 6 p.m., May 31.

Woolwich will hold its annual Memorial Day Service at the Days Ferry Congregational Church at 7:30 p.m.