Where did all the trash come from?

North Reading officials are searching for an explanation behind an increase in the amount of trash collected over the past several years -- including a substantial increase in the first six months of the current fiscal year.

And they are trying to figure out ways to pay the accompanying increase in disposal costs.

The amount of trash for which the town has been billed has been increasing incrementally over the past few years, said David Hanlon, director of the Department of Public Works, but in the first six months of fiscal year 2007, the volume spiked by 14 percent over the same period last year.

Hanlon said the town has budgeted $448,800 for trash disposal this fiscal year but is on track to spend more than $511,000.

Hanlon said officials are checking with the town's new trash hauler, Peabody-based JRM Hauling & Recycling Services Inc., to make sure that North Reading trash is not being mixed with trash from other towns. A more likely reason for the increase is that residents are throwing away items that could be recycled. A switch from a per-bag charge to an overall fee gives residents less incentive to sort out recyclables, Hanlon said.

James Motzkins, owner of JRM, which started trash service in North Reading in July, said that the town is not being charged for trash from other communities, but that his crews may have been picking up items that should not be thrown away as trash.

Motzkins said construction material and yard waste were picked up because of confusion about collection guidelines during the first months his company operated in town but would not be collected in the future.

He said he expects the trash amounts to level off or decline.

"We know there was an increase for a while," he said. "I think after we had a few discussions with them on what their restrictions are on collections, it's starting to come back in line."

Hanlon said inspections of the collection trucks every morning before they begin their routes have always been in place and will continue.

"The tonnage didn't just jump July 1," Hanlon said. "For the last two years, we've seen the increases."

The town pays $68 per ton to dispose of its garbage at the Wheelabrator incinerator in North Andover.

The town switched in mid-2003 from a pay-as-you-throw program that charged residents 65 cents for each bag of trash they threw away to a flat fee of $180 per year.

The current fee system covers about 70 percent of the annual cost for trash removal. The rest is paid by property taxes.

Members of the town's Solid Waste Committee were scheduled this week to begin consideration of a new payment policy, which they will eventually recommend to selectmen.

The new policy could be an increase in the fee so it would cover 100 percent of the trash removal costs or some smaller hike, Hanlon said.

Hanlon said he wants to reduce the amount of garbage by enforcing trash regulations and encouraging residents to recycle.

The town is not charged to dispose of material that is recycled, so more recycling will reduce disposal bills.

A flier reminding residents to recycle will be included in the next water bill, Hanlon said.

"We have to make them aware that too much is being thrown away and that they should recycle," Hanlon said.

"About 40 percent of what people throw away can be recycled, and if they do that then we'll be paying less."