Winchester

Patrick administration maintains incinerator moratorium, expands recycling

Winchester, MA - The Patrick administration announced last week that it would maintain the existing moratorium on new facilities for incineration of municipal solid waste.

In addition, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Ian Bowles outlined Gov. Deval Patrick’s priorities for expanding the recycling of key products like water bottles and consumer electronics, as part of a push to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills and incinerators.

“We are serious about managing the waste we generate in a way that saves money for cities and towns, curbs pollution and protects the environment for our children and grandchildren,” said Patrick. “There are better ways than traditional incineration.”

“I’m happy the administration has decided to continue the moratorium,” said Rep. Sean Garballey, D-Arlington. “Going back to old ideas that are harmful to the environment is not the solution, it is time for a commitment to new ideas that reduce consumption and create incentives for proper disposal.”

Garballey is a co-sponsor of a bill that would prohibit expansion of incinerators and a bill that expands the current “Bottle Bill” which has been successful in increasing recycling rates.

The Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has had in place a moratorium on new municipal solid waste combustion facilities since 1990.

As MassDEP prepares a new Solid Waste Master Plan, which it is expected to issue as a draft in early 2010, the announcement specifies that the new plan will maintain the moratorium, but also strengthen it in two ways — by reducing dramatically the amount of recyclable material going into the waste stream, and by developing stringent new performance standards for existing waste-to-energy facilities that require higher recycling rates in waste collection areas, lower emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants and higher efficiency in energy recapture.

MassDEP will work toward developing these performance standards for the next 10-year Master Plan.

“Focusing on incineration and landfills is the wrong end of the waste equation,” said Bowles. “While Massachusetts is ahead of the national average in recycling and some communities like Nantucket are leading the way, there is a lot more we can do to increase recycling and reduce disposal of useful materials.”

To complement the incinerator moratorium, the Patrick administration is committed to an aggressive agenda of recycling and waste reduction that gives cities and towns assistance to expand and improve their recycling efforts and requires greater responsibility from manufacturers for products — ranging from water bottles to televisions — that end up in the waste stream.

“This initiative will return Massachusetts to national leadership in recycling,” said MassDEP Commissioner Laurie Burt. “Built on this foundation, the Solid Waste Master Plan issued next year will guide consumers, businesses, and municipalities toward a future of more recycling, and less landfills and incineration.”

At the same time, Bowles announced he has directed MassDEP to suspend review of permit applications for facilities proposing to use construction and demolition materials (C&D) as fuel for energy generation, including the proposed Palmer Renewable Energy facility, until a comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of using such materials is completed.

This assessment will include a review of potential for emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants related to C&D, an analysis of level of contaminants commonly found in C&D feedstocks, and a review of the most effective means for minimizing, sampling and monitoring of toxics and other contaminants of concern in these feedstocks.

Further, the secretary has directed MassDEP, in coordination with the state Department of Public Health (DPH), to conduct a review of the potential public health impacts associated with the combustion.

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