Can you spot Temple Stuart’s Water Tower in this shot of the Otter River Valley?
Fact Sheets and Reports
“Chemical Recycling” 101
Mom’s Clean Air Force
“Chemical Recycling” Is Not Recycling National Resources Defense Council
National Resources Defense Council
Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 111, Section 150A
Solid waste disposal facilities; maintenance and operation; applications for site assignment
Excerpts: The determination by the board of health, or the department in the case of a state agency, of whether to assign a place as a site for a facility, or for the expansion of an existing facility, shall be based upon the site suitability criteria established by the department in cooperation with the department of public health pursuant to section one hundred and fifty A1/2, and any site assignment shall be subject to such limitations with respect to the extent, character and nature of the facility or expansion thereof as may be necessary to ensure that the facility or expansion thereof will not present a threat to the public health, safety or the environment.
Any person desiring to maintain or operate a site for a new facility or the expansion of an existing facility shall submit an application for a site assignment to the local board of health and simultaneously provide copies to the department and the department of public health. A copy of the application for site assignment shall be filed with the board of health of any municipality within one-half mile of the proposed site. Any municipality within such one-half mile shall be afforded all the procedural rights of an abutter for the purpose of administrative review by the department or public hearing by the board of health where the proposed site is located.
The determination by the board of health, or the department in the case of a state agency, of whether to assign a place as a site for a facility, or for the expansion of an existing facility, shall be based upon the site suitability criteria established by the department in cooperation with the department of public health pursuant to section one hundred and fifty A1/2, and any site assignment shall be subject to such limitations with respect to the extent, character and nature of the facility or expansion thereof as may be necessary to ensure that the facility or expansion thereof will not present a threat to the public health, safety or the environment.
The Fraud of Plastic Recycling ~ How Big Oil and the plastics industry deceived the public for decades and caused the plastic waste crisis.
February 2024 © 2024 Center for Climate Integrity
Where There’s Plastic, There’s Fire. Indiana Blaze Highlights Concerns Over Expanding Plastic Recycling By James Bruggers April 12, 2023
China’s ban on accepting most plastic waste may have led to a burning stockpile in eastern Indiana that sent black smoke billowing into the air—and local residents scrambling to safety.
A fire Tuesday at a plastics recycling plant in Richmond, Indiana, forced the evacuation of 2,000 nearby residents. Credit: Kevin Shook/Global Media Enterprise.
The dense black smoke from a fire at a plastics recycler in Richmond, Indiana, that began Tuesday afternoon and continued burning on Wednesday, forcing the evacuation of 2,000 nearby residents, was dramatic, but far from an isolated incident in the world of facilities that store or recycle vast quantities of plastic waste.
There are hundreds of such fires in the United States and Canada every year and most of them never make the news, said Richard Meier, a private fire investigator in Florida who worked 24 years as a mechanical engineer in manufacturing, including in plastics companies.
“These plastics, most of them are derived from oil. They are petrochemicals and they have the same propensity for burning once ignited,” Meier said.
So far, in Richmond, in eastern Indiana between Indianapolis and Dayton, Ohio, local health officials say the biggest threat to the public is from breathing particulates in the smoke.
But as firefighters and residents there are now experiencing, the toxic chemicals plastic fires can release also pose significant threats.
“There can be a lot of nasty things that come along with burning plastics. Polyurethane can release hydrogen cyanide,” Meier said, referring to the chemical warfare agent.
“Dioxins come from burning plastics,” he said, referring to a group of highly toxic chemicals that can cause cancer, reproductive and developmental problems, damage to the immune system and interfere with hormones.
Read more! ——-> Inside Climate News
LOOPHOLES, INJUSTICE, & THE “ADVANCED RECYCLING” MYTH
The Fossil Fuel Industry Campaign to Keep Us Hooked on Plastics
Why Chemical Recycling Won’t Solve the Plastic Pollution Problem
Beyond Plastic & International Pollution Elimination Network
Micro-Plastics
Chemical recycling, advanced recycling, and related facilities are classified as incinerators by the US environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and must adhere to Section 129 of the Clean Air Act.
Chemical Recycling: What it Is, and What it Definitely is Not: (Posted on September 25, 2023 by MassPIRG) Only 9% of plastics are recycled, leaving the rest to become trash.1 A new buzz phrase is floating around, and it may sound like a solution to recycling problems: “chemical recycling.”
So-called “chemical recycling” is really a term invented by the oil, gas and petrochemical industries to hide where plastic is actually going: the incinerator.
Click to learn more! ———> Here’s what you should know about chemical recycling:
And another summary here.
Full Report - Chemical Recycling:
A Dangerous Deception Beyond Plastics & International Pollution Elimination Network
Links of interest:
https://openlawlib.org/blog/tips-on-drafting-ordinances-and-by-laws/
https://www.multistate.us/insider/2023/11/1/state-legislators-work-to-address-plastics-via-advanced-recycling
https://legislature.vermont.gov/Documents/2024/Docs/BILLS/H-0602/H-0602%20As%20Introduced.pdf
https://www.mma.org/eight-communities-advance-municipal-fossil-fuel-bans/
https://www.plasticsforchange.org/blog/can-plastic-waste-be-disposed-of-by-burning
https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/stories/true-cost-plastic-pollution
https://www.ciel.org/reports/plastic-health-the-hidden-costs-of-a-plastic-planet-february-2019/
Priority Letter to New Governor Administration (2023)
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
House of Representatives, Zero Waste Caucus
State House, Boston 02133
March 27, 2023
Bonnie Heiple
DEP Commissioner
Boston, MA
Dear Commissioner Heiple,
(click above to see entire letter)
9. Shut down every incinerator in Massachusetts, and prohibit any new ones. Whether they are mass burn incinerators, like the one in Saugus that first began operating in 1974, or pyrolysis, gasification, “Chemical Recycling” or some other form of high heat, staged combustion being proposed now, we know that all incinerators create toxic ash, produce toxic emissions, are expensive, wasteful, keep very few people employed, and are terrible for the climate. MassDEP commissioned a report from the Tellus Institute in 2008 that evaluated existing old and new proposed incinerators and found that Zero Waste programs were superior in every way to high heat facilities. Nothing has changed.
Not only should the Commonwealth phase out our old mass burn incinerators in North Andover, Saugus, Haverhill, Millbury, and Rochester (which burn about half of the trash we produce each year) but MassDEP should close the 350,000 ton loophole for allowing new combustion facilities. There is a reason that no new incinerators have been built in Massachusetts since this loophole was created in 2013 – they are just not safe.
Currently, we are seeing a wave of plastic burning being pushed by the American Chemistry Council and their cohorts. MacVallee LLC has purchased 24 acres in Templeton, Massachusetts to build a Chemical Recycling facility to “recycle” plastic. These facilities don’t actually make new plastic, they break down plastics to burn the oils, gases, etc. with toxic results. See This ‘climate-friendly’ fuel comes with an astronomical cancer risk | Pollution | The Guardian
There is no way to safely burn trash, or fuels made from trash. There is no way to safely landfill our trash. MassDEP needs to focus not on allowing waste companies to build disposal capacity, but on implementing systems that we know work, like composting, Bottle Bills, PAYT, and real recycling.
Sincerely,
Representative Michelle Ciccolo Senator Jason Lewis
House Chair, Zero Waste Caucus Senate Chair, Zero Waste Caucus
C: Secretary Rebecca Tepper
Climate Chief, Melissa Hoffer