Solid Waste Action Team, http://www.lexingtonma.org/swat/HomePage.htm
SWAT Principles
1. LONG-TERM VISION. The SWAT feels that without a long-term vision for the solid waste solution that best serves the Town, there is a danger of accepting short-sighted solutions and missing opportunities to further the long-term interests of the Town residents.
THEREFORE the SWAT will clearly enunciate a long-term solid waste policy and will seek immediate, practical actions that can produce progress toward that goal.
2. TOTAL ACCOUNTING FOR COSTS. As representatives of the Town residents, the SWAT feels that the total cost to residents of any policy must be considered in analyzing solid waste disposal costs. Without knowing total costs, there is a danger that policies can be implemented that save the Town budget a certain amount of money while imposing an even greater cost upon Town residents. While the citizens of Lexington are free to select the more costly option if they wish, a full accounting of costs should be presented to them in making that decision. THEREFORE, the SWAT will employ full-cost accounting that considers the entire cost of the solid waste policy to Town residents, not just the cost to the Town budget.
3. EVALUATING UNCERTAINTY. Some significant cost considerations have an unavoidable amount of uncertainty. To ignore potentially significant costs because they are uncertain could lead to poor selection among alternatives and unpleasant surprises as policy is implemented. THEREFORE when there is uncertainty in a quantity, the SWAT will attempt to employ most likely values or to include high and low estimates.
4. OBSERVING THE GOLDEN RULE. The SWAT assumes that Lexington residents desire a morally principled policy. In particular, that we do not want our trash disposal practices to result in injury to others, even if they live outside the borders of the Town. This is because we have friends and family in other communities, and we wish the ethical principles that we employ in our everyday lives to be reflected by town agencies who operate in our name.
THEREFORE, in considering health and environmenal impacts, the SWAT will focus primarily upon impacts within Lexington, but the SWAT will also consider harm inflicted on people living outside Town boundaries.
5. REGIONAL CONTEXT. Many solid waste issues cannot be satisfactory resolved without cooperation between communities at the regional or state level. Lexington has a history of regional cooperation and of leadership in shaping regional and state policy.
THEREFORE, while our primary focus is upon the Town of Lexington, the SWAT will also consider the regional and state context of the problems it is addressing, and will make recommendations regarding those policies.