Trash, trash, and more trash. Our city, like almost every other community in Massachusetts, has a big problem with its waste, reports Bruce Mohl in CommonWealth Magazine:

“Trash is one of those problems that stares Massachusetts residents in the face on a daily basis. Yet it gets almost no attention because few people are exposed to the ick factor of landfills and trash incinerators. We put our trash out at the curb and it goes away. But now we are starting to run out of places to put it. … What’s most alarming about the state’s trash problem is that it’s so preventable. We know how to cut trash output and we know how to turn recycled materials into money and jobs. We just don’t do it.”

Well, there are lots and lots of public officials and community activists trying to figure out how to cut trash and turn recycled materials into money and jobs. They are at the State House, in City Hall, in the neighborhoods and on the streets where individual homeowners and renters are working together on programs like Boston Shines.

It’s a little complicated at the State House. Several joint committees will be looking at bills about recycling, waste reduction, and toxic waste removal as an environmental issue, a natural resources issue, an agricultural issue, a public health issue, and a municipal cost issue. No hearings have been scheduled by any of the panels. Sigh!

In addition there are two Standing Committees on Global Warming and Climate Change in the Legislature – one in the House (eleven members, chaired by Rep. Frank Smizik of Brookline) and one in the Senate, (six members, chaired by Senator Marc Pacheco of Taunton). No bills have been filed by either committee. Sigh!

All recycling and waste reduction advocates can do is patiently wait for the Legislature’s leadership to get around to recycling their joint rules and start processing the many recycling and waste reduction proposals. So much for top-down policy making,
Thankfully, things are happening in our city and in its neighborhoods. In January, Mayor Walsh announced a comprehensive planning and implementation process called The Greenovate Boston 2014 Climate Action Plan. Wrote the mayor: “Dear neighbors: When I took office in January 2014, it was clear that climate and sustainability were top priorities for Boston. Hundreds of people showed up to the public forums on the environment and open space in January. Throughout the past year, I’ve been impressed by and grateful for your participation and engagement—from the Steering Committee, to the Greenovate Boston Community Summit, to the hundreds of ideas and comments submitted along the way.”

To be sure, the mayor has not been wanting for community participation and recommendations, and he has been quick to acknowledge the work of national and local groups who have focused on public education around the importance of reducing waste and improving recycling for many years. In fact, a set of policy recommendations from the Boston Zero Waste Task Force in March 2014 found its way into the mayor’s own report:

• Developing policies that will increase Boston’s recycling rate to 50 percent by 2020, 75 percent by 2030, and “zero waste” — at least 90 percent — by 2040.
• Creating a citywide “zero waste” plan that emphasizes community input and the creation of green jobs that help the city reach recycling goals.
• Creating programs that divert food and yard waste from landfills while helping small, local businesses grow.
• Guaranteeing a living wage and safe working conditions for those employed by companies with waste and recycling contracts with the city.

I think the most interesting and fun stuff is happening on the neighborhood level where residents are organizing and mobilizing their neighbors around a vision of a sustainable Boston Shines by transforming the Snowmaggedon experience many people actually enjoy and appreciate – neighbors helping each other to shovel out streets and driveways, sharing meals, and building snow creatures with children. Why not figure out ways to inspire neighbors to work together to keep their streets clean all year long?

Come to the Dorchester Civic Forum on May 1 to celebrate the 45th birthday of Earth Day and help kick off a resident-led effort called Clean Up Boston. Hear about ways individual residents can help reduce emissions and improve the working conditions of the recycling work force. (And pick up some free brown paper litter bags from Bowdoin Geneva Residents Association to hand out to your neighbors to inspire them to help make Boston Shine all year long.

The Dorchester Civic Forum meets the first Friday of every month at 7 p.m. in the Meeting House Hall (10 Parish St). There is no admission fee, and coffee and tea will be provided.