MassDEP Joins Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) as a Champion for Change to Promote Waste Reduction
Working with a stakeholder workgroup to identify key concerns and needs in the healthcare sector, The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) will develop a series of technical assistance and networking programs aimed at the healthcare sector, with specific support for acute care hospitals in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Focused on waste reduction and recycling initiatives, MassDEP's healthcare waste reduction activities will assist all healthcare facilities to significantly improve their overall environmental performance.
MassDEP Expands Waste Ban Enforcement to Generators
Even though Massachusetts has made great strides in increasing recycling and businesses are recycling more than ever before, large amounts of recyclables are still being thrown away when instead they could be used as feedstock by companies that make value-added products and employ thousands of "Bay Staters". Continued disposal of recyclables unnecessarily reduces the capacity of in-state disposal facilities, which is already limited. As recycling reduces disposal costs, businesses can save money by diverting materials from their trash dumpster to their recycling bin.
The MassDEP has announced that in 2006 it will increase its focus on enforcing waste ban regulations as they apply to businesses that improperly manage certain recyclables and hazardous materials subject to waste disposal ban regulations. In addition to MassDEP continuing waste ban inspections at solid waste facilities, such as landfills, transfer stations and incinerators, to ensure that they are not accepting waste loads containing banned materials, the agency will also begin looking more closely at businesses that generate or transport wastes containing those materials. As MassDEP extends waste ban compliance and enforcement to haulers and generators, it will initially focus on outreach and assistance prior to issuing enforcement actions. However, MassDEP may pursue enforcement at any time for particularly serious or extensive violations.
MassDEP is pursuing this initiative to hold all parties accountable for waste ban violations, whether they are facility operators, haulers, or generators. Waste ban information can be found on MassDEP's web site.
Registration for 6th Massachusetts Organics Summit
Consumer Programs of MassDEP will hold its Sixth Massachusetts Organics Recycling Summit: "Growing Opportunities in Organics Recycling". This year the summit will be a 2-day event. The first day (March 1) will feature a professional conference and vendor exhibit hall focused on the food waste management and composting infrastructure in Massachusetts. A second day has been added that includes site visits to a local compost facility and supermarkets diverting food waste.
The summit begins on Wednesday, March 1 at the Best Western Royal Plaza in Marlborough, MA.
- Of special interest to the Northeast Recycling Council members:
- Hear how MassDEP has balanced carrots and sticks to promote market development
- Learn what technical assistance your agency can offer food waste generators and composters
- Find out about innovative public-private partnerships
This is a terrific networking opportunity -- last year's Summit attracted over 200 attendees from 12 states.
New DEP-Approved Recycling Program Criteria Issued
MassDEP issued new criteria for the Department Approved Recycling Program (DARP) in January. DARP establishes recycling, composting, and public outreach standards for municipal recycling programs. DARP is a voluntary program. Qualifying communities receive DARP status that exempts municipal solid waste loads from comprehensive inspections for select "waste ban" materials (paper; glass, metal and plastic containers; leaves and yard waste) at solid waste disposal facilities. Every 2-4 years, MassDEP "raises the bar" by instituting new DARP criteria designed to leverage more recycling and composting in municipal programs. The current DARP criteria, established in July 2002, will expire on June 30, 2006. Currently 283 municipalities out of 351 in Massachusetts have DARP status.
To qualify for DARP status municipalities must meet mandatory and elective criteria in three categories: (1) Recycling Commitment and Access, (2) Composting Commitment and Access, and (3) Public Education and Participation. Each category has a mandatory element and an elective element. Communities may choose between 2-3 elective criteria in each category.
- The FY2007-2008 program includes the following mandatory elementchanges:
- Adds the collection of cardboard (OCC) and mixed paper (magazines, catalogs, junk mail) in curbside and drop-off programs.
- Requires through a bylaw, ordinance, or hauler contract language, that leaves and yard waste not be collected with MSW.
- The following elective elementschanges were implemented:
- Establish recycling collection at public schools
- Meet a 100 pounds per capita criterion for paper, bottles and cans.
- Enforce mandatory residential recycling through a by-law, ordinance, regulation or clause in the municipal trash collection contract.
MassDEP anticipates strong participation in the program. Consumer Programs offers technical assistance to communities that are working to meet the DARP criteria. For more information, contact John Crisley .
MassDEP FY2006 Municipal Grant Update
MassDEP's FY06 Municipal Waste Reduction Grant Program received 166 applications requesting $3.14 million in recycling and composting equipment, pay-as-you-throw assistance, rain barrels, water conservation kits, idling reduction toolkits and technical assistance projects in September 2005. MassDEP has conditionally awarded $1.25 million for those requests to 148 towns, cities and regional organizations.
Two rounds of FY06 grants have already been awarded, the first in mid-October and the second just before Thanksgiving. These rounds awarded thirty-five "in-kind" technical assistance grants for projects including pay-as-you-throw planning, mandatory recycling/waste ban enforcement at the curb, outreach and education, regional HHW collections, municipal green building workshops and business recycling initiatives and 13 in which MassDEP provided funds for specific waste reduction projects. 4 communities also received School Chemical Management Grants of $5,000 for clean-out services plus 50 hours of technical assistance, and 17 communities received Idling Reduction Toolkits.
MassDEP expects to announce recycling and composting equipment, pay-as-you-throw start-up grants, recycling bins stickers, additional technical assistance grants, diesel vehicle retrofits, water conservation equipment and consumer education materials awards this spring. For more information, contact MassDEP's Municipal Recycling Grant Manager, Amy Roth.
School Green Team Summary
The Green Team, MassDEP's school waste reduction and recycling program, is well underway and in the midst of a very enthusiastic school year. Two hundred and seventy four teachers have joined The Green Team this year, nearly 50% more than last year. These teachers represent 200 different schools and nearly 45,000 students. Requests for recycling equipment from Green Team schools have been coming fast and furious this fall and winter, with about 800 recycling bins, 50 wheeled carts, 9 compost bins and 10 worm bins distributed to 31 schools.
At the Kingston Intermediate School, the 5th and 6th grade students are leading by example, coordinating the school recycling effort. "We've really seen a difference in the amount of trash we're throwing away," the custodian was quoted as saying in a Patriot Ledger article about the school recycling effort.
Students at the Granby Junior-Senior High School are expanding their recycling efforts to include composting. They are separating their food scraps to send to a nearby organic farm for composting. Lorenzo Macaluso of the Center for Ecological Technology has been providing valuable assistance to this school.
New to the Massachusetts recycling scene this year, Abitibi Consolidated has provided Paper Retrievers at several schools, with positive results reported. School recycling is receiving a lot of support from a variety of individuals and organizations across the Commonwealth and together, everyone's efforts are making a big difference.