Southampton Will Offer Green Bags Through Vending Machines at Dumps

Southampton Town residents soon will be able to purchase the green town-issued garbage bags, which are required for disposing of nonrecyclable trash at town facilities, from new vending machines that are being installed at the town’s transfer stations.

The new machines have been delivered to the transfer stations, but the installation is delayed until the credit card processing software is set up by the town.

Currently, rolls of green bags can only be purchased at local grocery stores, convenience stores and hardware stores, leaving uninitiated residents and visitors who arrive at the dumps with nonrecyclables in regular garbage bags turned away, sent in search of the bags.

The vending machines will sell rolls of bags similar to what stores now sell, offering both the large (garbage can size) and small (kitchen can size) bags. The price of the bags to the consumer will be the same as at stores: $18.25 for a five-bag roll of the large bags, and $10.25 for a roll of the small bags.

Beyond the convenience for residents of having bags available on-site, the town will realize a 14-percent savings from selling the bags directly to consumers, according to Tom Houghton, the town engineer, who manages the Sanitation Department. The town currently pays retailers 10 percent of the sales price as an incentive to keep the bags on hand, and also must pay to distribute the bags and set up billing through retailers.

The town sold 252,000 bags in 2024 — 32,500 rolls of large bags and 17,900 rolls of small bags — and brought in about $630,000 from the sales of bags, which accounted for about 18 percent of the $3.4 million cost of running the town’s recycling centers. Residents disposed of 3,961 tons of nonrecyclable trash.

The town’s new food waste composting program diverted 11 tons of food scraps that otherwise would have ended up in green bags.

Fees for dumping bulk materials, construction debris and yard waste brought in about $1.3 million; the town sold $143,805 worth of recyclable paper and cardboard.