Essex trash pays for itself. Here is what a household pays, and how it compares

In Essex, trash pays its own way.

The town has no curbside pickup. Residents buy a sticker and pay for every bag they leave at the transfer station on Landing Road. In the last year on record, those fees brought in more than the transfer station cost to run.

With Gloucester and Manchester switching to automated carts this fall, we looked at what Essex's system costs the town and what it costs a household.

What the town spends

The town budgeted $306,830 for the transfer station for the year that began July 1, about the same as last year's $303,920. Two years ago it spent $250,900.

Most of the money goes to private contracts: about $173,000 to haul, dispose of and manage trash and $50,400 for recycling. The rest pays for a recycling coordinator, the town's own trash bags, sticker printing, hazardous waste disposal and upkeep.

Who pays

In the year that ended June 30, 2025, Essex took in $117,970 from transfer station stickers and $160,182 from trash bags, according to the town's annual report. That is $278,152, about $27,000 more than the $250,900 it spent.

The town has not published fee totals since. If they stayed about the same, fees would cover about 91% of this year's budget. Some costs, such as staff benefits, may be paid from other parts of the budget.

Per household, that works out to about $307 in spending, with about $278 from fees and $29 from the town budget. The household count, 1,001, is from 2023, the last year Essex reported to the state.

What you pay

• Sticker: $150, or $75 for residents 65 and older, for each car. This year's sticker runs from July 1, 2026, to Aug. 31, 2027. Buy it online at essexma.org or by mail.
• Bags: $4 for a 33-gallon bag and $2 for a 15-gallon bag, sold in rolls of five at Market Basket, Googan's Galley, the Building Center and Aubuchon Hardware. The Friends of the Essex Council on Aging also sell discounted bags to seniors each month.
• Recycling: free at the transfer station.

A household that brings one large bag a week pays about $358 a year. One bag every other week is about $254. A senior with one bag a week pays about $283.

How Essex compares

Essex charges the most up front of any town in our comparison. For one bag a week, Gloucester's standard cart is $300, Rockport's sticker and bags come to about $296, and Manchester's cart is $100. Hamilton and Ipswich charge nothing for the first bin.

Add what each town pays from its budget, and the order changes. Counting both, that household's trash costs about $387 a year in Essex, compared with about $476 in Gloucester, $425 in Manchester and $427 in Hamilton. Only Ipswich, at about $339, is lower. Rockport's budget share is not published.

How much Essex throws away

The transfer station took in 553 tons of trash in 2025, 36 tons more than the year before, and 353 tons of recycling, the DPW said in the town's annual report. Essex has not reported its numbers to the state since 2023, so it is missing from most statewide comparisons.

Hours and contacts

The transfer station, 30 Landing Road, is open Tuesday, Friday and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Call 978-768-6262 or 978-768-6431.

Earlier coverage

• Manchester's new trash carts: who pays more, who pays less and how the neighbors compare (Oct. 6), with a full town by town comparison

• Also in this series: Gloucester's trash costs and Rockport's trash costs