What a Little Incentive Can Yield

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have presented the Massachusetts WasteWise Waste Reduction Leadership Awards to Lemuel Shattuck State Hospital and Raytheon Co. in recognition of their innovative, incentive-based solid waste contracting techniques, which have helped to reduce trash and to increase recycling in their operations. 

Lemuel Shattuck State Hospital and Raytheon use an approach known as resource management (RM) contracting, through which they have given their solid waste contractors clear financial incentives not to haul as much trash as possible, but to manage resources in economically and environmentally responsible ways to reduce their disposal costs and to dramatically increase the amount of material they recycle.

“Shattuck Hospital and Raytheon are environmental leaders by example for other Massachusetts institutions and businesses,” MassDEP Commissioner Robert W. Golledge Jr. says. “By working with their solid waste contractor on the common goal of cost effectively reducing and recycling their wastes, they are prime examples of how incentive-based contracting can be implemented in the waste management industry.”

Robert W. Varney, regional administrator of EPA’s New England regional office in Boston describes resource management as a “common sense approach to waste management.” He adds, “RM contracting has the potential to transform the waste disposal industry.”

Lemuel Shattuck, a 278-bed, in-patient state hospital located in Jamaica Plain, Mass., is in the second year of its contract with Save That Stuff, a Charlestown-based recycler. During the first year, Shattuck generated 11 percent less trash, saved roughly $11,000 in avoided disposal costs and more than quadrupled its recycling from 14 tons to 58 tons by collecting five new materials for recycling.

“I have worked in this business for more than 20 years, and this is by far one of the best waste management programs I have seen,” Lemuel Shattuck’s Deputy Director of Facility Management Tom Campbell says. “Instead of managing many contracts, now I manage only one, and that allows me to focus on other needs within the hospital.”

Headquartered in Waltham and one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, Raytheon went out to bid for solid waste and recycling services at eight of its Massachusetts facilities, with an aim of giving its new contractor incentives for helping the company throw away less and recycle more and for continuously doing better.

 “Raytheon has been a WasteWise member for years, and has a very active waste reduction and recycling program,” Brian Balukonis, Ratheon Senior Environmental Quality Engineer, says. “We hope this new contract will help us get to the next level of managing our resources more effectively and efficiently.”