Plan calls for state to toss less trash
State environmental officials have rolled out a draft plan that calls for Massachusetts to reduce its solid waste disposal by 1.7 million tons by 2030, in part by targeting food waste, textiles and construction materials.
The Department of Environmental Protection will accept public comment on its draft 2020-2030 Solid Waste Master Plan through Dec. 6, and has a series of hearings on it planned throughout the fall.
With the state on track to fall short of its 2020 waste reduction goal — the current master plan called for a 30 percent reduction from 6.55 million tons in 2008 to 4.55 million tons in 2020 — the new draft sets “some very aggressive goals” backed up by a “really robust and multi-pronged strategy,” said deputy DEP commissioner Stephanie Cooper.
“We are redoubling our efforts,” Cooper said. “Part of what has affected the progress to date has been a strong economy, which sort of cuts against waste reduction generally.”
The draft plan calls for strengthening the state’s existing commercial food waste disposal ban by lowering the current threshold of one ton per week to a half ton per week by 2022; banning the disposal of mattresses and certain textiles to drive increased recycling and reuse; and establishing “minimum performance standards for construction and demolition processing facilities to increase recycling of materials banned from disposal and improve compliance with waste disposal bans.”
“One of the key things is to make sure that there are markets for the materials that we’re trying to divert or recycle,” Cooper said.
Musk unveils new SpaceX rocket
BOCA CHICA VILLAGE, Texas — Elon Musk unveiled a SpaceX spacecraft designed to carry a crew and cargo to the moon, Mars or anywhere else in the solar system and land back on Earth perpendicularly.
In a livestreamed speech from SpaceX’s launch facility near the southern tip of Texas, Musk said that the space venture’s Starship is expected to take off for the first time in about one or two months and reach 65,000 feet before landing back on Earth.
He says it’s essential for the viability of space travel to be able to reuse spacecraft and that it’s important to take steps to extend consciousness beyond our planet.
A crowd watched as Musk spoke from a stage in front of the large spacecraft, which has a reflective, metal exterior.
Musk says Saturday marked the 11th anniversary of a SpaceX rocket reaching orbit for the first time.