Update: Impact of Coronavirus Pandemic on Mass. Trash/Recycling Programs
While we’re all obviously doing whatever we can to protect our families and our communities from the risks posed by the coronavirus, many of us are probably wondering whether our ability to put out the trash and recycling will undergo any changes.
A webinar on April 9 by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has provided an update on how the coronavirus pandemic and its spread here in Massachusetts is affecting trash and recycling collection programs in the state. Here are the key take-aways from the webinar:
Trash and recycling pickup has been identified by Governor Charlie Baker as an essential service. Bulky waste pickup programs in some municipalities have been suspended, but for now, household trash and recyclables are being picked up.
As of April 9, one of the nine materials recycling facilities (MRF) operating in Massachusetts had requested a waiver from the requirement to accept paper for recycling. MassDEP has not granted the waiver.
The governor has temporarily suspended local plastic bag bans state-wide. He has also issued a directive prohibiting the use of reusable bags at groceries, drug stores, and other retail establishments regarded as providing essential services. Some retailers had already begun discouraging shoppers from bringing their own bags, saying that store personnel would not handle them.
Retailers that accept redeemable bottles and cans, such as liquor stores, have the discretion to suspend that service if they deem the practice too unwieldy to manage safely and effectively.
One more note--not from the webinar. The plastics industry is pushing to have the temporary ban on local plastic bag prohibitions rendered permanent. The industry has long argued that reusable cloth bags are vectors for disease, and it is now claiming that reusable bags pose elevated risks of passing along the novel coronavirus. The scientific support for the earlier claims is inconclusive, however, and non-existent for the newest claim. As recently reported by WBUR, the data on the coronavirus’s lifetime on fabric surfaces just isn’t there yet, according to a local professor of microbiology who is looking into this issue (there’s evidence that the virus can survive on plastic surfaces for up to 72 hours).
The professor does caution that we act conservatively and leave the reusable bags at home--a moot point, since a prohibition is in effect in Massachusetts. Our advice at Zero Waste Melrose is to heed government officials’ directives and medical professionals’ advisories and guidance, and stay safe.
