We should move to converting most of our waste into useful resources with an integrated, Island-wide program of waste management. The emphasis needs to be on both controlling and influencing what we generate as waste and on how we are maximizing potentials for reuse. Other communities have shown leadership in managing waste effectively with programs to reduce the generation of waste, to reuse building and other materials, to convert organic waste into compost, and to transform waste into energy. Converting our waste to useful local purposes rather than shipping it off-Island decreases energy and expenses used for transportation of waste and provides resources of community value. Some communities, such as Nantucket, “mine” their old landfills for materials that can be recycled or converted to energy, thereby removing potential groundwater contaminants and restoring valuable real estate for new uses.
Four of the Island’s six towns – Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown and West Tisbury – are members of the Martha’s Vineyard Regional Refuse Disposal District, which jointly their waste management. Oak Bluffs and Tisbury, are no longer members of the District, and manage their wastes together. These two towns are the most densely populated and are the only towns that provide curbside collection; Tisbury operates its curbside collection system, whereas Oak Bluffs contracts with a private hauler. In addition, several private companies are involved in collection, consolidation, and off-Island shipment of waste, independent of any governmental functions.
The addition of three components to our current waste system – a large-scale composting facility, a used building materials exchange, and a comprehensive recycling facility – may allow us to create both jobs and products (compost, mulch, biomass for heating, building materials, etc.) while reducing energy consumption and costs. Nantucket has an integrated solid waste disposal system encompassing landfill cleanup, recycling, and composting that reduced waste by 86%. A thorough feasibility study looking at site considerations, material sources, collection methods, use options, and product resale is needed in order to develop an appropriate comprehensive approach for the Vineyard. The first objective below focuses on managing waste after it enters the waste stream while the second deals mainly with ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle so materials don’t have to be treated or disposed of in the first place.
Objective E7: Convert most of our waste into useful resources with an integrated, Island-wide program of waste management.
· Strategy E7-1: Develop an Island-wide system for coordinated waste management. The fragmentation of current management systems – whether among towns or between the public and private sectors – potentially increases administrative and operational costs, has resulted in varying disposal practices for people across the Island and within towns that present barriers to increasing recycling practices and re-use programs, and make it harder to reach the critical mass needed for some kinds of processing, all of which inhibits opportunities to increase recycling and reuse programs and more sustainable processing practices. As transportation and processing costs continue to climb and population increases, an approach to waste management which combines all handling systems under an integrated system would not only be more efficient, but combined volume of waste resources could open up new opportunities such as composting and building materials recycling to draw us nearer to being a zero waste community. A coordinated approach would facilitate dealing with increasingly complex and costly requirements and technologies, and would make it possible to more efficiently finance necessary infrastructure improvements.
· Strategy E7-2: Construct an Island-wide composting facility including sewage sludge. A large portion of the Island’s waste that cannot be recycled or reused in its present form can be “cooked,” breaking down the volume of material and significantly reducing the amount of solid waste we need to ship off-island. This facility would also allow towns to mine their capped landfills: harvesting useable contents of the buried waste and removing the threat to ground water quality posed by the capped (impervious membrane on top) but not lined (no membrane underneath) landfills. Once all usable resources are extracted from the excavated waste, the remaining material would return to a lined area of the landfill and ultimately be capped. Such mining could also return portions of the current landfill acreages to alternative, active use. A thorough feasibility study must first be conducted.
· Strategy E7-3: Use construction debris and available biomass (wood waste, leaves, and organic wastes) as a local resource. Under this objective, government or a private sector operator would create and/or operate a facility to accept and receive construction waste, demolition debris and other unwanted or surplus building materials; essentially a supermarket for used building materials and processed wood waste – the latter for use as fuel, mulch, or compost supplements. The operator would conduct sorting, separation, storage and inventory functions to make materials available for reuse. Fees and charges for materials would be expected but still representing a savings over disposal costs or purchasing items new. These efforts could be supplemented by ordinances requiring or incentives for on-site separation of materials during construction or prohibitions on disposal. On a more aggressive level, this facility could also become involved with processing forest and landscaping wood waste.
Objective E8: Pursue opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste materials.
Many communities are attempting creative ways to manage waste in response to space limitations, regulations, financial considerations and increased concern about the wasteful consumption of resources that still contain utility. People (not just Vineyarders) have long trolled landfills to salvage items still containing some utility. Salvation Army clothing deposit boxes and local second-hand thrift shops rely upon such gently used items. Unfortunately, such practices are plagued with the fear of insurance liability or unscrupulous people simply depositing unusable trash. Perhaps due to the varying practices among the different waste management bodies, there is a level of skepticism about whether carefully sorted glass, plastics, etc. are, in fact, ending up recycled.
· Strategy E8-1: Reduce amount of potential waste brought to the Island. The first step is to minimize the importing of unnecessary materials that will ultimately have to be disposed of. This can be done by educating consumers, retailers and applicators of alternatives to continued use of hazardous and toxic materials, especially those that will cause disposal issues, and to assure availability of these alternate products. The use of packaging materials can be reduced by promoting the re-use of bags and packaging, and by adopting packaging polices for shipping goods to the Island and for on-Island retailers. We can reduce Third-Class mail volume by providing education about ways to stop unwanted catalogues and junk mailings.
· Strategy E8-2: Improve awareness of waste disposal processes. Re-instill the public’s faith in the recycling programs already in place through periodic information in the newspapers or posted at disposal sites on the volume of materials recycled and the monetary savings to the community. Develop educational programs targeted specifically to businesses, institutions and governments. A part of the education process should include encouraging the purchase of refurbished materials and products with recycled content, in order to support the demand for recyclables.
· Strategy E8-3: Increase the number of recycling containers and satellite drop-off sites. It is only in the past year or so that the SSA has placed recycling containers aboard ferries. We should look at all public trash receptacles as potential locations for recycling containers with multiple compartments for sorted materials. Consideration might also be given to additional drop-off sites for paper and other recyclables.
· Strategy E8-4: Provide ways for the reuse or re-purposing of materials. Work with existing thrift stores and the Dumptique to address operational barriers to expanded use. Work with the municipal waste stations to address legal concerns with people picking through discarded materials, examining practices of other communities. Similar to the reuse of construction materials, entire programs might be created around particular materials; e.g. an independent entity could collect used latex paint and then mix and redistribute (sell) it.
· Strategy E8-5: Adopt mandatory recycling. In order to increase recycling, many communities have made participation mandatory.
· Strategy E8-6: Minimize demolition of homes. Promote alternatives such as restoration, improvement, relocation and de-construction of buildings for reuse and recycling. Provide incentives to not demolish. Institute town demolition delay bylaws that require buildings be offered for re-use for a certain time frame before they are allowed to be demolished.
· Strategy E8-7: Consider septic tank dewatering. The use of residential septic tank dewatering systems could lessen the transport costs associated with septic tank pumpouts as well as reducing the volume of waste to be transported and disposed of.
· Strategy E8-8: Generate biodiesel from waste cooking oil. Construct a biodiesel generation facility using waste cooking oils.
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