ERG Helps Massachusetts Plan for a Zero-Waste Future

ERG recently supported the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) in developing the 2030 Solid Waste Master Plan: Working Together Toward Zero Waste. This comprehensive solid waste management plan establishes goals to reduce statewide waste disposal by 30 percent over the next decade and by 90 percent in 2050. The plan lays out strategies to encourage all reusable, recyclable, or compostable material to be diverted from the trash—reducing the volume of material in landfills. Its priorities for MassDEP include funding grant programs that provide cities and towns with resources to help their residents properly reduce, reuse, recycle, and compost; expanding current regulations to ban mattresses, textiles, and commercial food waste from disposal; and working with the state legislature to reduce single-use packaging and encourage extended producer responsibility.

During the plan’s development, ERG managed stakeholder and public engagement, coordinating public hearings and collecting and synthesizing comments over several years. ERG also conducted technical analyses to understand the materials entering the waste stream, identify which materials could be diverted from the trash, and project solid waste capacity and disposal trends for the decade to come—creating a clearer picture of how Massachusetts can achieve its waste reduction goals.