BOSTON - Despite receiving nearly 14,000 messages urging Governor Patrick to retain a 22 year old moratorium on new trash incinerators, the Administration today announced that the Commonwealth is open to incineration developers.  MassDEP received only 11 comments in favor of allowing gasification technologies, a form of incineration.

Burn facilities recover only a small amount of energy from garbage while burning resources that could be recycled or composted, creating new businesses and jobs.

Manufacturers’ recycling programs found to be ineffective in most states

A manufacturer-run program for collecting mercury thermostats is failing to keep the toxic heavy metal out of the trash—and the environment—in most states, according to a new report released today by the Multi-state Mercury Products Campaign (MMPC) and the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI). Turning up the Heat II, estimates that, at most, the industry recycling program has captured 8% of mercury thermostats coming out of service in the past decade. This has resulted in the disposal of over 50 tons of mercury into the environment, which can expose people to the neurotoxin through fish consumption.