The road to zero waste is long, winding and a steep uphill climb. Looking at the numbers put out by the U.S. EPA, the country’s tonnage of material being land-filled has been pretty steady since about 1980, despite increases in recycling, composting, and combustion with energy recovery.

That doesn’t mean the needle isn’t being moved. Day-to-day waste management happens at the community level, and that’s the place to look for winning strategies.

Let's look at two very different communities in Massachusetts, Cambridge and West Tisbury, that during the years of 2011 through 2020 consistently reported being in the lowest two brackets (less than 750; or 751-1000) for average pounds of trash produced per household per year.

Now, that might not seem significant because it's still 2 to 3 pounds per household per day. However, the DEP data for the year 2020 show just how many municipalities throw out much more on average in pounds per household per year:

In Massachusetts, cities and towns self-report their data through the DEP’s Annual Recycling and Solid Waste Survey. Not every municipality participates and some do not have municipal trash services, so the data do not represent a complete set.

 Cambridge is a sizeable city just outside of Boston that has a younger demographic. West Tisbury is a small town on Martha’s Vineyard that has an older population. 

Here are some numbers according to censusreporter.org, which stipulates there is a 10% margin of error with this data:

These communities differ in another aspect that is important to note when analyzing trash outputs. West Tisbury is pay-as-you-throw, or PAYT, and is part of a regional refuse district that includes four towns. Cambridge is non-PAYT and has its own municipal waste services.

What they have in common is a range of programs that make recycling, re-use and composting easy for the majority of residents and some businesses. 

Cambridge Recycling Director Michael Orr said that when China announced its National Sword program and threw a wrench into recycling markets, city officials saw it as an opportunity rather than an obstacle.

The new program limited the kinds of solid waste China would accept from the U.S. and set strict limits on the amount of contamination that could be in that waste. So, Cambridge officials took a hard look at what was being put in recycling bins across the city.

“We saw that we could pay less money if we had less contamination,” Orr said. “So we did a huge effort in 2018-2019 to reduce our contamination from 11% down to 4%, and as a result of that we were able to save probably $90,000 a year in our recycling costs.”

In addition, he said, the city saw a reduction in certain materials being put into the waste stream.

“I think people actually found new ways to divert their material,” he said.

For example, people who had been putting clothing in the trash probably discovered they could donate it to an organization that would recycle or reuse it.

“It was a great opportunity for us to re-educate the community, really push and change the norms,” Orr said.

Cambridge waste-reduction programs now include:

Cambridge does not have PAYT, so education and outreach are two important strategies in the city’s recycling and waste-reduction toolbox.  

In addition, two recycling enforcement officers each work about 30 hours per week. They do a number of different things, Orr said, including monitoring compliance with recycling rules and making sure barrels are put out and taken in during specified times. In the course of their rounds, the officers make note of buildings that have overflowing trash and likely need to increase their recycling.

Of 51,000 total households, Orr said, 32,000 have city trash services and 44,000 have city recycling services.  

The households that are not serviced by municipal programs rely on private arrangements with haulers. For example, a complex that has large Dumpsters would not be eligible for municipal pickups.

While it is difficult to enforce, Orr said, the city does have regulations that require private haulers to offer recycling at every residential building they service.

It’s also difficult to regulate the commercial sector, Orr said, but Cambridge offers free curbside recycling to small businesses, and about 200 are signed up. In addition, small businesses and non-profits with 50 employees or fewer can use the city’s recycling center.

“It’s important for people to understand that recycling still works,” Orr said.

Plastics recycling, he emphasized, still matters.

“However, I would agree, and I think everyone agrees,” Orr said, “that there’s just too much plastic now in the environment and we have to figure out how to rein that in, and I think we can all rally around that.”

Rigid plastic containers are recycled at a really high value, he explained. They’re just as recyclable as cardboard and aluminum, and recycling them saves the city a lot of money, he said.

“I think it’s important to hammer in that recycling is important,” Orr said. “It’s here to stay. It’s good. Reduce and reuse is better, but recycling is better than trashing and land-filling our waste.”

West Tisbury is a small town located on an island, so it does not have the breadth of municipal waste reduction programs of a Cambridge. What it does have is a community committed to reducing waste, PAYT-based programs, and free food-waste composting through an innovative non-profit initiative.  

Don Hatch is head of the Martha’s Vineyard Refuse District, which includes the towns of West Tisbury, Edgartown, Chilmark and Aquinnah. He oversees the local drop-offs in all four communities, with Edgartown serving as the main transfer station.

During the period from 2011 through 2020, West Tisbury reported being in the lower two brackets for trash tonnage during all years except one, 2020. It should be noted its neighbor and fellow MVRD member Chilmark started that time period in a slightly higher bracket, but then logged lower in the subsequent nine years.

Hatch said of West Tisbury, “That community is very conscious of what they’re disposing and how they’re disposing of it. It’s more community driven numbers.”

In addition, he said, West Tisbury has a very robust swap shop and because of that, people from other towns in the district probably go there to drop off their waste and recycling. The shop accepts clothing, shoes, boots, books and small household items.

PAYT has been in place on Martha's Vineyard for many years, Hatch said. In the MVRD, use of the transfer stations is sticker-based and there are various fees depending on the materials.

At $5 per bag or barrel, the trash fee is steep because of the transportation costs. Trash is not incinerated on the island. It is transported to the SEMASS waste-to-energy facility in West Wareham.

The contract with SEMASS, Hatch said, includes an incentive to pull mercury products out of the waste stream. SEMASS supplies the containers and pays for the shipping for items such as batteries, fluorescent tubes, and thermometers, and there is no fee for residents to drop those items off at transfer stations within the district.

Another free program that helps residents reduce their trash is provided in partnership with Island Grown Initiative (IGI), Hatch said. IGI has been working for the past five years or so, he said, to capture as much food waste as possible and keep it on the island for re-use.  

IGI, which has an office in West Tisbury and a working farm in the community of Vineyard Haven in Tisbury, partners with many organizations and businesses to increase local food production and promote regenerative farming that focuses on improving the soil.

That’s where the collection of food waste comes in.

Right now, Hatch said, residents have access to a number of drop-off locations. IGI has a 45-foot digester that turns the food waste into finished compost. Not only are residents welcome to the compost, but it is also supplied to local farms.

“We’re starving for good soil on the island,” Hatch said, “so it’s helping the farmers add soil to their fields.”

Up next? An eco-building program, Hatch said. Instead of just tearing a building down, its materials would be harvested for re-use.