As Massachusetts landfills close, a growing portion of the state’s solid waste is being hauled out-of-state, according to a new report. In 2015, around a quarter of the state’s waste — around 1.4 million tons — was exported to facilities in New Hampshire, Ohio, Maine, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, and Rhode Island. That’s a 16 percent jump from 2014.
Massachusetts did import a half-million tons of waste that year, leaving net exports at 880,000 tons, or around 16 percent of the state’s total stream.
Those figures and more are featured in the most recent solid waste update from the Department of Environmental Protection. The annual report (), released this month, tracks trash data from 2008 to 2015, and projects trends to 2021.
Massachusetts in 2015 generated around 5.5 million tons of trash. Of the waste disposed of in-state, 1.4 million tons were landfilled, and 3.3 million tons were incinerated in trash-to-energy combustors.
In the 1980s, nearly all the state’s trash was dumped at hundreds of small landfills, most owned and operated by municipalities. Now private operators are the norm, and there are only nine landfills left. At least four of those could close soon, according to the MassDEP figures.
Landfill expansion plans are far from a sure thing. A plan by Casella Waste Systems to expand its Southbridge landfill is facing intense opposition. In nearby Charlton, landfill contaminants were found in 15 private drinking wells. MassDEP recently denied the expansion, but Casella is seeking a reconsideration.
Under one scenario, Massachusetts by 2021 could be left with only one operating landfill, in Middleborough, with a yearly capacity of 530,051 tons.
Combustors operating in Agawam, Haverhill, Millbury, North Andover, Pittsfield, Rochester and Saugus are expected to stay up and running, with a total capacity of around 3.5 million tons.
Officials are working hard to help homes, businesses, and municipalities reduce their waste stream, said John Fisher, chief of commercial waste reduction and waste planning at MassDEP.
A state master plan calls for a 30 percent reduction by 2021 from 2008 levels, when 6.55 million tons of solid waste were generated in Massachusetts. The plan targeted a rate reduction of two million tons over twelve years.
“We’re about halfway through the timeline, and about halfway in meeting our waste reduction goal,” Fisher said in a recent interview. “So we’re on track.”
As for the 16 percent net export number, Fisher said there’s a market dynamic at play, and that the state has no control over where private haulers take their waste. Haulers will seek the most economical solution, and can’t be forced to use in-state facilities.
“What we have control over is our own waste stream,” he said. “We’ve reduced that number significantly, but we still have work to do.”
Fisher did note that the reduction between 2014 and 2015 was small, with a difference of only 10,000 tons. But he said holding the line on waste during a rising economy is not easy.
To read the full story, visit .