Resolved, that the executive office of energy and environmental affairs shall conduct an investigation and study of the feasibility of enhancing statewide recycling programs and municipal waste management. The study shall identify the fiscal impact, statutory and regulatory barriers, existing laws and regulations, grant programs to facilitate financing, new and existing technologies, and the need for new infrastructure. The study shall also include, but not be limited to, the feasibility of expanding 1) public space and urban center recycling resources, 2) curbside and multi-unit dwelling recycling, and 3) composting initiatives.
The office shall also explore the feasibility of a statewide single-stream recycling pilot program. The study shall assess the viability of and costs associated with single-stream diverted material including, but not limited to, a long-term cost-benefit analysis of the value of diverted materials compared to the value of total waste diverted from landfills.
Finally, office shall also explore the feasibility of implementing a data-based sunset provision to the Massachusetts bottle deposit law as outlined in sections 323 through 327, inclusive, of chapter 94 of the General Laws. The study shall propose standards and regulations to track the general, statewide recycling rate of municipal solid waste in comparison to the recycling rate of containers covered by the bottle deposit program. When the rates of recycling of both covered and non-covered materials are equal, the deposit program shall be considered unnecessary and therefore will be repealed.
The secretary shall report to the joint committee on environment, natural resources and agriculture, the joint committee on telecommunications, utilities and energy, and the house and senate committees on ways and means, the finding and recommendations, if any, together with drafts of legislation necessary to carry the recommendations into effect by filing the same with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives on or before December 31, 2016.
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