![]() An estimated 1.1 million people have visited the site since 2018, including 231,000 unique visits in the last six months. The platform includes a function to search by item type, a map that indicates where material from each municipality goes, free educational materials for municipalities and resources in eight different languages, among other features. ![]() Other resources are also published through the state’s Recycle Smart platform, which includes a standardized list of acceptable items based on input from all MRF operators in Massachusetts. Nash said the goal is to increase transparency and show residents that “this is a real industry, this is how it happens, there's nothing magic about it." ![]() MassDEP recently published information about certifications for MRFs in the state, including details on end markets for specific commodities, as part of a broader public education effort in recent years. We're offering to let you see with your own eyes on our tours that our recycling facilities are working hard to process material and give it a second life,” said MassRecycle President Gretchen Carey, who also works for Republic Services, adding that the group is working to help municipalities better understand who is buying their material. "We know that you are the people dedicated to teaching your communities about the recycling process. This, coupled with a general narrative that recycling plastic isn’t worthwhile at all, has prompted a renewed counter-effort by MassRecycle. Nash said that while the 5% plastic recycling rate cited by certain groups is technically accurate, she feels it’s misleading to include in the denominator many plastic items that are not intended for recycling. But this message targeting big plastics has created collateral damage." “I don't think there's much disagreement in the room that our world is full of plastics, that we need to stop producing it and using it at the rate we are. "What sort of blows my mind at this point is that our recycling foes are now national nonprofit environmental organizations,” said Nash, adding that while the plastics industry may be their target, she feels the outcome has been broader. Those groups and others are especially focused on single-use plastic items that tend to have lower commodity values, as well as finding ways to phase out single-use plastic with alternative materials or reuse/refill systems. ![]() These have been driven in part by environmental groups such as Greenpeace and Beyond Plastics, which published reports last year questioning the validity of plastic recycling systems and statistics. Members of MassRecycle - a trade group that includes private and public sector waste professionals - have been particularly irked by stories, social media posts and opinion pieces run in outlets such as NPR and The Atlantic within the past year. She likened the current landscape of post-National Sword media coverage to skepticism in the early 1990s that culminated with an infamous 1996 New York Times story describing the concept of recycling as “garbage.” Nash spoke in her personal capacity as a 40-year recycling professional planning to retire soon, not as the branch chief for municipal waste reduction at the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. ![]()
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