Massachusetts 2023-2024 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H888 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	1 of 1
2	2	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1776 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 888
4	4	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
5	5	_________________
6	6	PRESENTED BY:
7	7	David M. Rogers
8	8	_________________
9	9	To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
10	10	Court assembled:
11	11	The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
12	12	An Act to incentivize the reduction of residential waste disposal.
13	13	_______________
14	14	PETITION OF:
15	15	NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :DATE ADDED:David M. Rogers24th Middlesex1/18/2023Margaret R. Scarsdale1st Middlesex2/13/2023 1 of 3
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1776 FILED ON: 1/18/2023
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 888
18	18	By Representative Rogers of Cambridge, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 888) of
19	19	David M. Rogers and Margaret R. Scarsdale relative to residential solid waste disposal and the
20	20	implementation of mandatory reporting standards for cities and towns. Environment and Natural
21	21	Resources.
22	22	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
23	23	SEE HOUSE, NO. 997 OF 2021-2022.]
24	24	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
25	25	_______________
26	26	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
27	27	(2023-2024)
28	28	_______________
29	29	An Act to incentivize the reduction of residential waste disposal.
30	30	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
31	31	of the same, as follows:
32	32	1 SECTION 1. The [Commissioner of Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of
33	33	2Environmental Protection (“the Department”)] shall establish performance standards for the
34	34	3reduction of residential municipal solid waste, as described below, to achieve the purposes of the
35	35	4[Commonwealth’s Solid Waste Master Plan and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan] and to protect
36	36	5the natural environment, preserve resources, achieve progress toward the [Commonwealth's]
37	37	6goals to reduce greenhouse gases, save municipalities money, and create green jobs in the
38	38	7commonwealth. The performance standards shall be promulgated by July 1, 2023.
39	39	8 SECTION 2. The Department shall establish performance standards for mandatory
40	40	9reporting of residential municipal solid waste with the goal of the ultimate reduction of solid 2 of 3
41	41	10waste on the basis of pounds per capita disposed for any resident who receives solid waste
42	42	11services from the municipality. By June 30 of each year, the municipality shall report to the
43	43	12Department as per standards set by the Commissioner all required waste data for the prior
44	44	13calendar year. At a bare minimum, the municipality shall report how many tons of solid waste
45	45	14were disposed of by served residential units, and the total population served. The first reports
46	46	15shall be due from municipalities by June 30, 2024.
47	47	16 SECTION 3. If residents are disposing of more than 500 pounds per capita of waste per
48	48	17year in a given municipality, that municipality shall be required to adopt a cost saving waste
49	49	18reduction program within a year. That program may be any program that incentivizes waste
50	50	19reduction or diversion and best complies with the Zero Waste International Alliance standard,
51	51	20i.e., “The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse,
52	52	21and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without
53	53	22discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”
54	54	23 SECTION 4. If the Department makes a determination that a city or town has not met the
55	55	24municipal solid waste reporting or implementation standards prescribed by the Department by
56	56	25July 1, 2021, that city or town shall submit a report to the department setting forth the reasons
57	57	26that the town did not meet the standards and detailing a plan to achieve the performance
58	58	27standards by September 30, 2021. The Department shall issue a report on the municipal solid
59	59	28waste programs not later than December 1 of each year that provides per capita solid waste
60	60	29disposal statistics for the municipal solid waste programs and shall file the report with the clerks
61	61	30of the senate and house of representatives and the senate and house chairs of the joint committee
62	62	31on environment, natural resources and agriculture. The report may disaggregate solid waste 3 of 3
63	63	32tonnage information to highlight categories of waste, including waste that is beyond the control
64	64	33of a city or town such as waste created as a result of a natural disaster.
65	65	34 SECTION 5. If the Department makes a determination that the cities and towns of the
66	66	35Commonwealth have not reduced their residential waste per capita to less than 500 pounds on
67	67	36average per person for all individuals served by residential municipal solid waste programs in the
68	68	37Commonwealth by July 31, 2025, the Department shall be empowered to promulgate regulations
69	69	38instituting a statewide program incentivizes waste reduction or diversion and best complies with
70	70	39the Zero Waste International Alliance standard, i.e., “The conservation of all resources by means
71	71	40of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and
72	72	41materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the
73	73	42environment or human health.” Furthermore, if future municipal reporting indicates that the
74	74	43average residential solid waste disposed of per capita increases above 500 pounds per person per
75	75	44year, the Commonwealth shall also promulgate regulations as described in this paragraph.