Sustainability Corner: New Disposal Bans
By GuestBrought to you by the Canton Sustainability Committee
You may have heard that starting November 1, Canton residents will find it more difficult to dispose of certain items such as mattresses and box springs. This isn’t just an issue in Canton.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s “2030 Solid Waste Master Plan” has added mattresses, box springs, and all other textiles to its list of materials banned from disposal or transport across Massachusetts. The intent is to encourage recycling and to support the recycling industry, which contributes thousands of jobs and millions of dollars to the state economy.
Massachusetts residents and businesses discard a whopping 600,000 mattresses and box springs each year! The good news is that mattresses are made up almost entirely of recyclable materials. Once disassembled, more than 75 percent of mattress components can be reused.
At the same time, discarded mattresses and box springs can be notoriously difficult to manage. They’re expensive to transport, they take up a lot of space in landfills, they’re hard to compact, and they can get caught in incinerator processing equipment. All of these factors result in higher disposal costs, so recycling or reusing mattresses makes good sense.
In preparation for the new trash disposal rules, Canton is planning two fee-based options for people looking to discard mattresses and box springs after November 1.
One option is a drop-off site at the Pine Street transfer station, which will cost $40 for each “unit.” Dropping off one mattress, for instance, will cost $40, but if you’re disposing of a mattress and a box spring, it will cost $80. The second option is to arrange for a truck to pick up your mattress curbside, for which you’ll pay $75 per unit. The town plans to post more information about these options on its website and in an upcoming tax or water bill.
Of course, if your mattress and box spring are still in good condition, then you can explore donating them. Use MassDEP’s Beyond the Bin Recycling Directory at recyclesearch.com/profile/ma to find organizations that accept mattresses. And remember, there’s no cost to drop off your unwanted textiles at the Pine Street transfer station.
Other items that are already banned from our municipal waste stream include: asphalt, brick and concrete, cathode ray tubes (old TV sets), clean gypsum wallboard, commercial organic material, glass containers, lead batteries, leaves and yard waste, metal, metal containers, recycle paper, single polymer plastics, whole tires, and wood.
Under its newly updated Solid Waste Master Plan, MassDEP will strive to reduce disposal statewide by 30 percent over the next decade. For its long-term goal, the state is shooting for a 90 percent reduction in disposal by the year 2050.
To learn more about waste disposal bans in Massachusetts, go to mass.gov/guides/massdep-waste-disposal-bans.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=93201
Posted by Guest
on Oct 14 2022. Filed under Featured Content.
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