HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1776        FILED ON: 1/18/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 888

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

David M. Rogers

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to incentivize the reduction of residential waste disposal.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1776        FILED ON: 1/18/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 888

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 997 OF 2021-2022.]

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act to incentivize the reduction of residential waste disposal.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. The [Commissioner of Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of Environmental Protection (“the Department”)] shall establish performance standards for the reduction of residential municipal solid waste, as described below, to achieve the purposes of the [Commonwealth’s Solid Waste Master Plan and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan] and to protect the natural environment, preserve resources, achieve progress toward the [Commonwealth's] goals to reduce greenhouse gases, save municipalities money, and create green jobs in the commonwealth. The performance standards shall be promulgated by July 1, 2023.

SECTION 2. The Department shall establish performance standards for mandatory reporting of residential municipal solid waste with the goal of the ultimate reduction of solid waste on the basis of pounds per capita disposed for any resident who receives solid waste services from the municipality. By June 30 of each year, the municipality shall report to the Department as per standards set by the Commissioner all required waste data for the prior calendar year. At a bare minimum, the municipality shall report how many tons of solid waste were disposed of by served residential units, and the total population served. The first reports shall be due from municipalities by June 30, 2024.

SECTION 3. If residents are disposing of more than 500 pounds per capita of waste per year in a given municipality, that municipality shall be required to adopt a cost saving waste reduction program within a year. That program may be any program that incentivizes waste reduction or diversion and best complies with the Zero Waste International Alliance standard, i.e., “The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”

SECTION 4. If the Department makes a determination that a city or town has not met the municipal solid waste reporting or implementation standards prescribed by the Department by July 1, 2021, that city or town shall submit a report to the department setting forth the reasons that the town did not meet the standards and detailing a plan to achieve the performance standards by September 30, 2021. The Department shall issue a report on the municipal solid waste programs not later than December 1 of each year that provides per capita solid waste disposal statistics for the municipal solid waste programs and shall file the report with the clerks of the senate and house of representatives and the senate and house chairs of the joint committee on environment, natural resources and agriculture. The report may disaggregate solid waste tonnage information to highlight categories of waste, including waste that is beyond the control of a city or town such as waste created as a result of a natural disaster.

SECTION 5. If the Department makes a determination that the cities and towns of the Commonwealth have not reduced their residential waste per capita to less than 500 pounds on average per person for all individuals served by residential municipal solid waste programs in the Commonwealth by July 31, 2025, the Department shall be empowered to promulgate regulations instituting a statewide program incentivizes waste reduction or diversion and best complies with the Zero Waste International Alliance standard, i.e., “The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.” Furthermore, if future municipal reporting indicates that the average residential solid waste disposed of per capita increases above 500 pounds per person per year, the Commonwealth shall also promulgate regulations as described in this paragraph.