Brewer Eases ‘Pay As You Throw’ Restrictions

On Friday, the City of Brewer announced on the city website that the temporary order for all Brewer trash to be tagged in order to be collected by the city's trash collection has now gone permanent.

With this change comes some restrictions to waste management criteria for those looking to the city to dispose their trash:

• All trash must be in bags, except cardboard as long as it is broken down to 2′ x 2′ or smaller and bundled.
• Each household is limited to 5 bags per week.
• Each bag must be no heavier than 40 pounds.
• Bags larger than 30 gallons in size must be clear or translucent.
• Bags can be placed in containers as long as container doesn’t exceed 40 pounds.

Earlier this spring, the City of Brewer posted to Facebook announcing the suspension of tagging trash bags due to the corona pandemic, which took effect March 30th and was to continue until the end of May.

In the Facebook post from earlier this spring, City Manager Steve Bost had mentioned revisiting the 'pay as you throw' concept: 'The City will reevaluate the end date of this temporary suspension if the COVID-19 situation at the time warrants it.'

The City of Brewer states that no refunds will be provided for unused tags, however, residents will be able to put out more than 5 bags by placing orange Brewer trash tags on bags over the 5 bag limit.

Tags will still be for sale at Brewer City Hall, Brewer Public Library, and via the City’s website to have the opportunity to put out more than 5 bags of trash.