Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued the following announcement on Sept. 27.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) today issued the Draft 2020-2030 Solid Waste Master Plan. The proposal seeks to increase diversion of food material, textiles and bulky waste items, provide financial and technical assistance for municipal waste and recycling programs, and enhance compliance and enforcement of waste disposal bans. A public comment period on the draft runs through Friday, December 6, 2019, and includes five public hearings across the Commonwealth.
“The Draft Solid Waste Master Plan proposes aggressive goals for reducing our waste in the next decade and beyond,” said MassDEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg. “The draft plan outlines a mix of regulatory, financial and technical assistance to move towards these goals, improve the Commonwealth’s waste management system, and provide important environmental and economic benefits for Massachusetts.”
The Solid Waste Master Plan establishes the Commonwealth’s policy framework for reducing and managing solid waste that is generated, reused, recycled or disposed of by Massachusetts residents and businesses. The Draft 2020-2030 Plan proposes a broad vision for and strategies on how the Commonwealth will seek to manage its waste over the next decade and beyond.
From 2008 to 2018, Massachusetts’ per capita disposal dropped by 18 percent. The new plan proposes to build on this progress and further reduce the current annual total of 5.7 million tons of solid waste disposal by 1.7 million tons or 30 percent by 2030. The plan also proposes an aggressive longer-term goal to reduce trash disposal by 90 percent by 2050.
Initiatives included in the draft plan will:
Increase requirements on the diversion of commercial food material from disposal;
Improve the performance of recycling facilities handling construction and demolition materials;
Provide financial and technical assistance to enhance municipal solid waste and recycling programs;
Target the reuse and recycling of textiles, mattresses and other bulky waste items;
Enhance compliance and enforcement of existing waste disposal bans and pursue additional bans on target materials; and
Advance adoption of extended producer-responsibility systems for select materials.
The draft plan takes a balanced approach to meeting Massachusetts’ capacity needs for waste materials. This approach includes fostering opportunities to reduce waste up-front through source reduction and reuse, growing in-state capacity and markets to manage recyclables and food materials, and maintaining the moratorium on additional municipal waste combustion capacity.
MassDEP has scheduled the following public hearings:
Wednesday, October 30, 2019 at 5 p.m. at the MassDEP Central Regional Office, 8 New Bond Street, Worcester;
Wednesday, November 6, 2019 at 5 p.m. at the MassDEP Northeast Regional Office, 205B Lowell Street, Wilmington;
Thursday, November 7, 2019 at 10 a.m. at the MassDEP Headquarters Office, 1 Winter Street, Boston;
Tuesday, November 12, 2019 at 5 p.m. at the Springfield City Library, Sixteen Acres Branch, 1187 Parker Street, Springfield; and
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 5 p.m. at the MassDEP Southeast Regional Office, 20 Riverside Drive, Lakeville.
MassDEP will accept comments on the draft plan through 5 p.m. on Friday, December 6, 2019. Comments on the draft plan can be submitted via e-mail to dep.swmp@mass.gov or via the mail to: John Fischer, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, 1 Winter Street, Boston, MA 02108.
Copies of the draft plan are available here.
MassDEP is responsible for ensuring clean air and water, safe management and recycling of solid and hazardous wastes, timely cleanup of hazardous waste sites and spills and the preservation of wetlands and coastal resources.
Original source can be found here.
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