On Tuesday, MassDEP announced release of its updated Solid Waste Master Plan, subtitled
"Pathway to Zero Waste." The Plan's most
significant discussion relates to the state of the solid waste
market and the Plan's goal for disposal reduction. The
Plan announces a goal of reducing solid waste disposal by 30% from
2008 to 2020, from 6,550,000 tons to 4,550,000 tons. However,
the Plan acknowledges that, even if that ambitious goal
is met, there will still be a shortfall of 700,000
tons in solid waste handling capacity in Massachusetts.
This is where the Plan's controversial modification of the
existing ban on new or expanded MSW combustion capacity enters the
picture. MassDEP proposes to allow up to 350,000 tons of new
capacity for "innovative and alternative technologies (e.g.
gasification or pyrolysis)." The Plan does not define
either "innovative" or "alternative" (or
"gasification" or "pyrolysis"), but it is clear
that MassDEP does not intend to allow
