Massachusetts 2025-2026 Regular Session

Massachusetts House Bill H1036 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. 3168 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
3	3	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1036
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 Middlesex1/16/2025 1 of 3
16	16	HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3168 FILED ON: 1/16/2025
17	17	HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 1036
18	18	By Representative Rogers of Cambridge, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1036) of
19	19	David M. Rogers relative to residential solid waste disposal and the implementation of
20	20	mandatory reporting standards for cities and towns. Environment and Natural Resources.
21	21	[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
22	22	SEE HOUSE, NO. 888 OF 2023-2024.]
23	23	The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
24	24	_______________
25	25	In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
26	26	(2025-2026)
27	27	_______________
28	28	An Act to incentivize the reduction of residential waste disposal.
29	29	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
30	30	of the same, as follows:
31	31	1 SECTION 1. The [Commissioner of Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Department of
32	32	2Environmental Protection (“the Department”)] shall establish performance standards for the
33	33	3reduction of residential municipal solid waste, as described below, to achieve the purposes of the
34	34	4[Commonwealth’s Solid Waste Master Plan and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan] and to protect
35	35	5the natural environment, preserve resources, achieve progress toward the [Commonwealth's]
36	36	6goals to reduce greenhouse gases, save municipalities money, and create green jobs in the
37	37	7commonwealth. The performance standards shall be promulgated by July 1, 2023.
38	38	8 SECTION 2. The Department shall establish performance standards for mandatory
39	39	9reporting of residential municipal solid waste with the goal of the ultimate reduction of solid
40	40	10waste on the basis of pounds per capita disposed for any resident who receives solid waste 2 of 3
41	41	11services from the municipality. By June 30 of each year, the municipality shall report to the
42	42	12Department as per standards set by the Commissioner all required waste data for the prior
43	43	13calendar year. At a bare minimum, the municipality shall report how many tons of solid waste
44	44	14were disposed of by served residential units, and the total population served. The first reports
45	45	15shall be due from municipalities by June 30, 2024.
46	46	16 SECTION 3. If residents are disposing of more than 500 pounds per capita of waste per
47	47	17year in a given municipality, that municipality shall be required to adopt a cost saving waste
48	48	18reduction program within a year. That program may be any program that incentivizes waste
49	49	19reduction or diversion and best complies with the Zero Waste International Alliance standard,
50	50	20i.e., “The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse,
51	51	21and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without
52	52	22discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.”
53	53	23 SECTION 4. If the Department makes a determination that a city or town has not met the
54	54	24municipal solid waste reporting or implementation standards prescribed by the Department by
55	55	25July 1, 2021, that city or town shall submit a report to the department setting forth the reasons
56	56	26that the town did not meet the standards and detailing a plan to achieve the performance
57	57	27standards by September 30, 2021. The Department shall issue a report on the municipal solid
58	58	28waste programs not later than December 1 of each year that provides per capita solid waste
59	59	29disposal statistics for the municipal solid waste programs and shall file the report with the clerks
60	60	30of the senate and house of representatives and the senate and house chairs of the joint committee
61	61	31on environment, natural resources and agriculture. The report may disaggregate solid waste
62	62	32tonnage information to highlight categories of waste, including waste that is beyond the control
63	63	33of a city or town such as waste created as a result of a natural disaster. 3 of 3
64	64	34 SECTION 5. If the Department makes a determination that the cities and towns of the
65	65	35Commonwealth have not reduced their residential waste per capita to less than 500 pounds on
66	66	36average per person for all individuals served by residential municipal solid waste programs in the
67	67	37Commonwealth by July 31, 2025, the Department shall be empowered to promulgate regulations
68	68	38instituting a statewide program incentivizes waste reduction or diversion and best complies with
69	69	39the Zero Waste International Alliance standard, i.e., “The conservation of all resources by means
70	70	40of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and
71	71	41materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the
72	72	42environment or human health.” Furthermore, if future municipal reporting indicates that the
73	73	43average residential solid waste disposed of per capita increases above 500 pounds per person per
74	74	44year, the Commonwealth shall also promulgate regulations as described in this paragraph.