Massachusetts Activists Work to Strengthen Solid Waste Plan: Zero Waste Plan Talks the Talk, Needs to Walk the Walk

On July 1st, the MassDEP issued a draft Solid Waste Master Plan, the blueprint for managing waste for the next 10 years. We are encouraged that MassDEP has titled their plan “Pathway Towards Zero Waste," but its content raises some big red flags.

 

The work of community activists across the state and Toxics Action Center staff has had a significant impact on the MassDEP’s proposed plan. When we began this campaign, few were talking about Zero Waste and an end of the moratorium on new incinerators, and even more trash burning, was a real possibility.  The new plan sets a goal of zero waste and does include many good steps along the way, but it still needs work. MassDEP’s proposed Solid Waste Master Plan creates loopholes in the 20-year moratorium on building new incinerators. By allowing 'sorted' or 'source-separated' garbage to be burned, the Plan's definition of 'waste reduction' includes burning some trash.

 

At a public hearing in Worcester in July, Linda Cocalis, the chairwoman of the Sturbridge Board of Health said, “Burning waste in incinerators and burying it in landfills causes serious health impacts for neighboring communities and competes with recycling efforts.” Cocalis cited data from the Environmental Protection Agency stating that nearly 90% of what is currently disposed of in landfills and incinerators is readily recyclable and compostable.

Additionally, the implementation timeline built into MassDEP’s proposed plan is too slow. While a truly ambitious plan will take more than a few years to complete, the MassDEP Plan gives us until 2050 to meet its biggest goals. At the same public hearing Kirstie Pecci, a member of the citizens’ group Residents for Alternative Trash Solutions (RATS) said “While the draft plan includes good ideas . . . [the plan] moves too slowly to solve the state’s waste problem . . . we can get to 80% waste reduction in half that time.” Pecci knows the urgency to reduce waste as she and RATS have been working to stop the expansion of the of Casella’s Southbridge landfill, slated to become the largest landfill in the Commonwealth.

At the time of this writing, the MassDEP is continuing to hear comments from residents at public hearings across the state, and has not yet issued a Final Plan. For more recent updates, visit our website.