New London — Faced with pushback from the public, Mayor Michael Passero has put the brakes on his push for a pay-as-you-throw trash removal program.

It doesn’t mean he’s given up on the idea, but Passero said this week that his latest recommendation to the City Council is to postpone a vote and move the matter back into committee for further discussion. The council was slated to vote on the program July 16.

The city will continue to promote the program as the “only viable alternative,” to stem the rising cost of municipal waste removal, but Passero said he thinks the public has not had time to absorb enough information about the program.

“We need to educate people. We need community buy-in,” Passero said. “We just haven’t communicated well enough.”

The program, which also is being considered in Ledyard and Montville, was also pitched in New London as a way to more equally spread the cost of waste removal to all entities, including the nonprofits that benefit from public services without paying taxes.

Curbside pickup would remain unchanged, but the program would mandate that residents pay up to $1 for special yellow bags to dispose of trash — incentive to increase recycling rates.

Some of the projected more than $600,000 in savings from transitioning to the program was already included in the 2018-19 budget, and it remains unclear whether those figures will be altered. The city has budgeted money for the lease and eventual purchase of new trash hauling vehicles, which Public Works Director Brian Sear said were needed with or without the program.

Passero said the successful petition of the general government budget to referendum means he must work to find additional savings that would allow him to reduce the bottom line and present a new budget to the council.

Councilor Martin Olsen, chairman of the public works committee, has been against the pay-as-you-throw idea from the start.

“I’m not convinced what’s on the table is appropriate for New London,” Olsen said.

Olsen said he would prefer the city study other options, including privatizing trash pickup.

“The amount of resistance from the public was almost unanimous. They’ve sent a clear message to the mayor. He ought to take a deep breath,” Olsen said.

The initial plan for the start of the pay-as-you-throw program was to convert the normal 90-gallon garbage bins into recycle bins to encourage recycling. Sear said the city has about an 18 percent recycling rate, which means 82 percent of all waste is sent to the incinerator. The goal under the new program would be to get the recycling average to 42 percent.

But critics have raised concerns about messy streets from broken bags and an increase in illegal dumping and have argued the purchase of bags is another form of taxation. Some have questioned why the city hasn’t taken a more active role in promoting recycling.

The city in September was awarded two grants totaling $52,000 through the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s “Save Money And Reduce Trash,” or SMART, initiative. The state has contracted with Zero Waste to introduce the initiative statewide.

The money was earmarked to study benefits of the program in New London, public outreach and pre-implementation of the pay-as-you-throw program.

g.smith@theday.com