The Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) Program

The Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) Program for the Portsmouth Transfer Station went into effect on February 1, 2018. This program requires all Transfer Station users to place regular trash in user-purchased, specially marked PAYT bags. The PAYT program has increased the Town's recycling rate remarkably.

Detailed information on PAYT can be found at https://reducethetrash.com/portsmouthri/

View our Portsmouth This Week Program on PAYT at https://youtu.be/heiwVJw9s68

In summary, users of the Transfer Station must purchase a user sticker for their vehicle at the Tax Collector's office located in Portsmouth Town Hall. This sticker authorizes access to the Transfer Station to deposit their refuse. The sticker fees collected go into a "Transfer Station Enterprise Fund" used to manage the Transfer Station.

Regular trash (that is non-recyclable/non-reusable “garbage”) must be thrown into the “Main Stream Waste Pit” ONLY IN TOWN DESIGNATED, USER-PURCHASED PAYT bags. All other refuse that is recyclable (e.g., paper, cardboard, cans, bottles, etc. that go into the Mixed Recyclable Pit) or reusable as “diversion” items (e.g. household bulky items greater than 5' in length, metals, clean and dry mattresses, etc.) or yard waste that are deposited in special containers outside the ‘Pit Building” WILL NOT NEED TO USE PAYT BAGS. Any regular trash item that can be placed into a PAYT bag, should be placed into a PAYT bag (e.g., basketballs, chair cushions, suitcases, trampoline rubber, etc.).

The fees that users pay to purchase the PAYT bags also goes into the Transfer Station Enterprise Fund used to manage the Transfer Station. Residents are able to purchase Town-approved bags at area stores. 

The list of stores that carry PAYT bags for purchase is being updated frequently. Please go to: the WasteZero Portsmouth PAYT site for the latest list and more PAYT information.

https://reducethetrash.com/portsmouthri/