Staff Report
While residents across the Commonwealth have just experienced a record-breaking heatwave in some areas, municipal officials are acting on a less-often-discussed contributor to the climate crisis: food waste. Fifty-one municipal officials from 17 cities and towns across Massachusetts, including Revere, Boston, Everett, Lynn, and Chelsea, made that connection and urged the state to take action in a letter delivered this week to Governor Maura Healey and Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) Commissioner Bonnie Heiple.
While landfill space in Massachusetts is rapidly filling up, food waste decomposing in landfills produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas. And according to EPA data, landfills are one of the largest sources of methane emissions in the Bay state. MassDEP estimates that food waste accounts for more than 25 percent of the waste stream after recycling, or over 1 million tons per year.
“We ask the State to put in place concrete plans, funding and technical assistance to increase composting infrastructure, working in partnership with communities like ours to divert food waste and minimize the climate impact of discarded food,” the letter states “An expansion of sustainable waste management practices will benefit our residents and our economy. Communities like ours are ready to partner with the state to expand composting in (Massachusetts.)”
Local municipal officials who signed the letter include Revere City Councilors Juan Pablo Jaramillo, Marc Silvestri, Angela Guarino-Sawaya, Ira Novoselsky, Michelle Kelley, and Robert Haas, III; Chelsea City Councilors Kelly Garcia, Tanairi Garica, Roberto Jimenez-Rivera, and Melinda Vega; Boston City Councilors Henry Santana, Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Enrique Pepén, and Gabriella Coletta-Zapata; Lynn City Councilors Natasha Megie-Maddrey and Nicole McClain; and Everett City Council President Stephanie Martins.
“Municipalities across the state are leading by building waste diversion programs that address the climate crisis effects of landfilling food waste,” said Revere City Councilor Juan Pablo Jaramillo. “We need the resources to build out these programs into comprehensive municipal services that make it easier and affordable for working class communities and their residents to partake in reducing methane emissions and meeting out the Commonwealth’s emissions goals.” Amber Schmidt, Zero Waste Organizer at Clean Water Action, who helped coordinate the letter, said diverting organic waste from landfills will prevent the unnecessary release of methane while providing numerous benefits such as compost for healthy soil and new green jobs.
“Keeping food waste out of our landfills is not just an environmental imperative, it’s a moral one,” said Chelsea City Councilor Kelly Garcia. “In Massachusetts alone, more than 1 million tons of food waste end up in our trash every year, contributing to methane emissions that are over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. By expanding composting infrastructure and supporting local communities, we can cut these emissions, create healthy soils, and build a more sustainable future. I’m proud to join municipal leaders across the state in calling for this urgent action.”
Massachusetts currently generates over six million tons of waste per year, with a growing percentage exported to other states. In 2024, Clean Water Action and MASSPIRG launched a campaign called Plate to Planet with a goal of reducing food waste and diverting all organics from disposal. To reach the goals in its 2030 Solid Waste Master Plan, the state must more than double its rate of food diversion from landfills and incinerators.