The city's sticker page describes buying one as "completely at your discretion." The next sentence says G. Mello, the city's hauler, will not pick up a cart without a valid sticker after October 1, 2026. Both statements are accurate. The discretion belongs to the household, and it applies to a decision most households make on paper only once: whether a cart sits at the curb at all.
That decision is the most useful thing to understand about the new rule, because the program's name suggests something the program does not do.
What the sticker is priced on
Under the amendment to Chapter 392 of the city's Code of Ordinances, every trash cart collected by G. Mello needs a city-issued sticker. The sticker is currently $100 per cart. It is issued on a calendar-year basis and renewed annually, and stickers bought this fall stay valid for the rest of 2026 and all of 2027. That works out to roughly fifteen months of coverage for the first payment, from October 2026 through December 2027.
The cart is 65 gallons or smaller, and it is the same brown cart each household has had since the automated pickup began. A cart that is a quarter full at the curb costs the same $100 as one with the lid propped open. Recycling carts need no sticker at all.
The city's own explanation of its costs shows why the design works this way. Amesbury pays G. Mello a tipping fee, a per-ton rate, on all the trash the city sends off, and it receives a cash rebate on materials that are recycled. The city pays by the ton. The household pays by the cart. Nothing in the sticker system connects those two numbers, which makes the sticker an annual fee to keep a cart in service.
The city says as much about the money. The fee will not cover the full cost of the collection contract, and it is meant to diversify budget revenue. On July 14, 2026, the City Council approved Bill 2026-109, which adopted the fee schedule, by a 7-1 vote. According to a summary of that meeting, several councilors said the initial $100 is likely too low and would need to rise over time. The city's page calls the fee a response to the demand for affordability it heard at the polls last November, when voters turned down a $6 million operating override. The page says the price is $100 "at this time," so it is worth treating $100 as the current number and not a permanent one.
Where the cart count changes the math
Because the charge attaches to the cart, the household's real lever is how many carts it puts out. The city's FAQ answers that directly. Two neighbors who agree can share one cart, and one sticker covers it. The city does not say how to split the cost. Divided evenly, it is $50 each for the fall sticker.
Here is how the rules fall across common setups, as the city describes them.
| Situation | What the city says |
|---|---|
| Single-family home with its assigned brown cart | One sticker per cart, $100 |
| Two households sharing one cart by agreement | One sticker; the city confirms sharing with a consenting neighbor is allowed |
| Building with six or fewer units, one cart per unit | A sticker for each cart; the city's example is four units with four assigned carts, each paid by the unit owner |
| Seven or more units, including seven condo units spread across several buildings | Not eligible for city trash service; the property contracts privately |
| Eligible property in the Downtown Central Business District | Covered by the program, and a sticker is required |
The seven-unit line catches associations that assume a group of small buildings counts separately. The city's answer is that a property owned in common with seven units in multiple buildings is still more than six units. How the carts and the cost get assigned inside an association is left to the association.
The sticker also belongs to the cart, and the cart belongs to the address. G. Mello owns the brown carts and assigns each to a street address. The city's guidance is that the sticker stays with the cart when someone moves across town. A cart bought and paid for as an extra is the household's own property and can go with them.
What actually moves the tonnage
The sticker does not reward a lighter trash cart, but the city still wants less trash, because the tipping fee follows weight. Its answer on the sticker page is curbside food scrap collection through Black Earth Compost, a self-pay service with a 13-gallon bin and weekly or every-other-week pickup. That bin is one fifth the size of the 65-gallon cart.
The city reports that 278 Amesbury households and 2 commercial accounts are enrolled. Together they kept 96 tons of food waste out of the landfill last year, about 2 percent of the city's entire landfill waste stream. Black Earth says food scraps can make up to 40 percent of a household's waste, and customers receive a voucher each spring for a free bag of compost. Black Earth's pricing varies by address, so its Amesbury page is the place to check the cost.
Set those numbers side by side. Two percent of the city's landfill stream is the share those enrolled accounts already keep out of the per-ton bill. For the household that composts, the sticker price does not move, because the cart is still at the curb. Composting saves the city money and makes the trash cart lighter, and the household's own fee only drops if a cart leaves the curb, which is the shared-cart route.
Yard waste has its own track. The city compost facility is open through December 6, 2026, and requires a compost sticker on the vehicle. From October 29 the hours are Thursday and Friday from noon to 4 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The city notes that opening and closing dates depend on weather, so check before loading the truck. Leaves and grass clippings can also go out for the city's curbside yard waste pickups in brown leaf bags.
Bulk items sit outside all of this. DPW stopped selling bulk item and white goods stickers on July 21, 2025. A freezer or a sofa now gets scheduled directly with G. Mello at 978-352-8581.
What to do this week
The mailing deadline for stickers has already passed for anyone who has not applied. Applications in the OpenGov system or entered by Monday, September 28 were processed and mailed. Anything entered after that requires pickup in person. Here is the sequence that works now.
- Confirm whether a sticker has arrived by mail. Stickers were numbered sequentially and assigned by application number.
- If not, go to DPW at 39 South Hunt Road, open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring proof of property eligibility, such as a driver's license, state ID, current utility bill or tax bill. On Tuesday, September 29, DPW customer service is also staffing City Hall from 4 to 7 p.m.
- Pay by check made out to the City of Amesbury if paying in person. Checks carry no fee. Online, an eCheck is a flat $2.25, and a credit card adds a processing charge of 2.99 percent plus a small per-transaction fee, which on $100 is a bit over three dollars.
- Clean and dry the spot directly above the serial number on the cart, peel the backing and press the sticker on there.
- Questions go to DPW at 978-388-8116. The city posts updates on the sticker page, on social media and through Smart911.
Anyone who would rather not buy a sticker has the two routes the city names. One is sharing a cart with a consenting neighbor. The other is hauling the household's trash to the G. Mello Transfer Station in Georgetown, where hours and pricing are on G. Mello's site.
A cart sticker is a small line in what it costs to keep a home in Amesbury. If you would like to see where the larger numbers stand, The Barnes Team can get you an instant home valuation for your address.
