In this three-part series, Green Maynard examines the growing problem of trash and explores practical steps every household can take to reduce waste, minimize cost, and safeguard health.
Trash Is Growing, and So Is the Cost of Disposal
Unfortunately, the cost of trash removal is going to go up. There are a few reasons for this, but there are steps you can take to keep your household’s cost down.
1. Massachusetts is running out of landfill capacity. Less space means that communities will either pay more for the remaining space, ship the trash out of state, or switch to incinerating trash (more on this next). According to the state’s Solid Waste Update, in 2022 almost half of the solid waste produced here was exported to other states. Shipping trash out of state, of course, means higher transportation costs as it travels to destinations that include Ohio (the largest by a huge margin), New Hampshire, New York, Alabama, and Michigan.
2. Our trash in Maynard goes to an incineration facility in Millbury. Incineration has its own
set of issues. Trash is burned, leaving less (but still some) final volume to go to the landfill, and although it produces electricity (waste-to-energy), it also produces air pollution and environmental justice issues. Most of the incinerators in the state are in or adjacent to
environmental justice communities—neighborhoods that experience disproportionate environmental hazards and may lack access to resources due to inequities in social and political power. The same is true for landfills.
3. Massachusetts has a zero-waste plan and is taking steps to divert as much trash away from landfills and incinerators as possible, with a goal of reducing trash by 90 percent (from 2018 levels).
While you might first think of recycling and maybe composting as solutions to reduce trash —and both are important—the best way is well before that. Reducing the amount of stuff you buy is the best way to reduce trash. Where possible, try to get what you need second hand. There are loads of platforms for this, from brick-and-mortar secondhand, consignment, and thrift stores to online venues like Free Cycle, Buy Nothing, and Facebook Marketplace. (There’s also the local Everything is Free Stow/Maynard Facebook group.) When you’re done with the item, pass it on to a friend or neighbor, or relist it online. For food, planning out and sticking to your menu and shopping list can help prevent food waste and save you money.
The state requires residents to recycle mattresses and textiles, and it requires businesses and institutions that generate a large amount of food waste (more than one-half ton per week) to compost. Other measures are likely to follow to help divert trash and put systems in place to support that shift. As Maynard revamps its waste removal program, keeping trash volumes low can help to keep costs down for everyone. Smaller volumes mean lower costs.
Composting to Help the Planet & Your Wallet
Massachusetts is running out of waste capacity, and the Commonwealth has vowed to reduce its waste 30 percent by 2030 and 90 percent by 2050. In the meantime, Maynard’s current trash contract will expire in June 2025, and the Maynard Solid Waste and Recycling Task Force is writing a new contract that will focus on ways to meet the need, to minimize increased prices, and to reflect residents’ amount of trash by offering different collection options. This a very good time for households to review their current trash practices and look for ways to reduce the amount that must be collected each week.
One great way to reduce your trash by more than 30 percent is by composting. There are two ways of composting: backyard compost bins and curbside pickup. The town sells rodent-resistant home composting bins for $65, and residents can fill the bins with yard waste and some food scraps. There are limitations, however; you cannot compost meat or dairy because they attract pests like rodents and flies and can carry harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella, which could contaminate your compost and plants. The EPA has an excellent website on safe and effective home composting at epa.gov/recycle/composting-home.
Another option is to use a curbside compost collection company. At present, 230 Maynard households use Black Earth Compost, which accepts a range of food scraps, including meat and dairy, as well as other materials. Black Earth provides secure 4- or 13-gallon bins and offers curbside collection weekly or every other week. If 70 more Maynard households sign up (bringing the total to 300), Black Earth will reduce the cost by 25 percent.
Many residents who already use Black Earth have found it saves them significant money because it reduces the amount of trash to be collected by more than 30 percent. The locking feature keeps the bins closed tightly, so they can be kept outside regardless of weather and local wildlife. And by putting food scraps into your Black Earth bin, your trash won’t contain the odors that attract pests, presenting an opportunity to schedule trash collection to every other week.
Most residents are also pleased by the number of materials that Black Earth accepts in the bin in addition to meat and dairy, including coffee grounds and filters; paper napkins and paper towels; toilet and paper towel rolls; and pet waste from rabbits, chickens, guinea pigs, hamsters, and birds (but no dog or cat waste). It all adds up to a lot of weight and mass diverted from the trash. And every spring, each household receives a voucher for a free cubic-foot bag of nutrient-rich compost.
When you sign up for Black Earth, you buy the bin as well as 30 compostable bin liners for $39.50. You have your choice between six months of weekly collection for $80.99 or every other week for $63.99. Black Earth weekly collection currently costs approximately $3.12, less than a single $4 trash sticker.
Green Maynard strongly urges every household in town to consider adding backyard or curbside composting to their solid waste routines. It will save residents money and reduce Maynard’s volume of trash each week.
The Problems with Plastic
Plastic is widely used for its durability, flexibility, and low cost, but excessive production and disposal have sparked a global pollution crisis. Most single-use plastics end up in landfills, incinerators (Maynard’s trash goes to an incinerator in Millbury), or in the environment, where they persist for hundreds of years, harming ecosystems on land and in waterways. Massachusetts alone disposed of 900,000 tons of plastic waste in 2022! Plastic production relies on fossil fuels, contributing significantly to the climate crisis, and with a growing body of evidence showing plastic’s harmful effects on human health, finding ways to reduce it is urgent work.
In 2021, residents in Maynard voted overwhelmingly to pass two bylaws to eliminate the use of single-use plastic checkout bags and to prohibit the use and distribution of expanded and clear or rigid polystyrene in food service ware and packaging material. Proposed by Green Maynard, the bylaws aim to reduce plastic pollution in the town of Maynard and minimize its associated environmental and health harms (more on that below).
Why Can’t We Just Recycle It? While recycling is better than throwing plastic in the trash, it still consumes energy (and often water) to collect, transport, and process the collected plastic to manufacture a new product. In many cases, manufacturers still need to add new raw material.
And just because a plastic item has a number on it doesn’t mean it’s recyclable. (The number within the chasing arrows just identifies the type of plastic.) Also, while many things, in theory, could be recycled—meaning that we know how to do it and have the technology to do so—it’s often too expensive or too difficult to dismantle the various materials that make up a particular item, such as plastic-coated paper coffee cups.
Some plastic simply doesn’t make it to the recycling bin because people don’t know it can be recycled or don’t know where it’s collected (plastic bags, for instance, can’t go in curbside bins, but many grocery stores collect them). And sometimes the item is just too dirty to recycle.
Any plastic that makes it past these hurdles is considered highly recyclable. Plastics #1, #2, #4 (polyethylene) and #5 (polypropylene) are among these, but still, they can only be recycled a limited number of times before the material degrades and becomes unusable.
Then there’s unrecyclable plastic, which includes #6 (polystyrene) and #3 (polyvinyl chloride or PVC). There’s really no life for these plastics beyond their original use.
Note: Be wary of “bioplastics” that claim to “degrade faster in the environment,” “are made from safer materials,” and/or “have smaller climate change impacts.” There are no federal standards defining or regulating these terms, so companies have free rein to label whatever they want as “biodegradable” and “compostable.”
Why is plastic so harmful? As plastic products break down over time, they create microplastics, tiny plastic bits that have been found in human placenta, lungs, intestine, liver, spleen, veins, breast milk, testes, and the heart. More recently, a study found plastic in the brain. Microplastics have been linked to heart attack, stroke, and death.
There are more than 16,000 chemical additives used in plastic, nearly a quarter of which is hazardous and half of which has no safety data. Many plastics contain a host of hazardous endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Because these chemicals are not bonded to the plastic molecule, they leach out at every stage of plastics’ use and lifecycle—including as food packaging. Mounting evidence shows that EDCs affect the hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism, causing obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
But the consequences of EDCs land most heavily on the very young, because children have an increased metabolic rate and are still laying down developmental pathways. In the early weeks of pregnancy, hormones guide everything—we have no other system—so tiny doses of EDCs can affect development in many ways, including disrupting brain development.
How can we reduce plastic? Enacting and enforcing policies that reduce plastic production and consumption—such as the bylaws passed in Maynard in 2021—can help. This includes advocating and voting for laws that ban or restrict single-use plastics, impose producer responsibility for plastic waste, and/or encourage the use of alternative materials.
On an individual level, opt for reusable metal straws, coffee mugs, food containers, cloth bags, and glass or stainless-steel bottles. Sup
port businesses and restaurants that prioritize truly sustainable packaging solutions. Consider shopping at stores that offer bulk options and bring your reusable containers. And when you do need to purchase something in plastic, recycle it properly. To learn more, visit Beyond Plastics.
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