Environment & Sustainability
Transition Policy Committee Summary of Findings
Committee Name
Environment and Sustainability Committee
Committee Members
Tori Antonino, Jacob Bloom, Jennifer Clifford, Meredith Elbaum, Laura Kiesel, Courtney Koslow, Leah McCarthy, Amy Mertl, Leigh Meunier, Stephen Moore, Claire O’Neill, Renee Scott, Kira Tipton, Mary Vriniotis, Brian Matthew Walsh, Larry Yu
Key themes and trends:
Preamble
The Environment and Sustainability committee is a large umbrella group covering everything from waste management to building envelopes to how we care for our natural spaces, and everything in between. Buzzwords like “Decarbonization” and “Electrification” have gotten the most attention, but addressing these impacts holistically is critical. Biodiversity and ecological health hold some of the greatest solutions to reducing climate change and managing its impacts while simultaneously supporting public health, yet these solutions have been largely under-utilized.
To adequately address all the facets of sustainability and the environment, we divided this section into seven topic buckets. They are all related in that they are critical to creating a healthy Somerville (for people, other animals, plants, land, air, and water), but they also have a wide-ranging variety of recommendations and actions. Many of these recommendations may address multiple buckets, so we have listed them where we think they are most appropriate with the understanding that they are all part of a larger systemic approach.
The headings are Integrative Planning, Social Sustainability, Natural Environment, Buildings, Energy, Water, and Waste & Circularity. We introduce them along with the existing initiatives below.
Equity & Justice Throughout: Rather than separating Equity and Justice as a separate section, it should be used as a lens through which all recommendations are addressed.
Who’s missing?: Somerville has many community organizations that are doing great work related to issues of sustainability, equity, and the environment. Some of those organizations were represented on the subcommittee who drafted the Sustainability and Environment section of this report, including Green & Open Somerville, Save Somerville Wildlife, Groundwork Somerville, and Carbon Free Somerville. Many of Somerville's community groups were not represented in the drafting of this report and whose contributions will be critical in moving Somerville forward. These include, but are not limited to: Native tribes and representative orgs (e.g. UAINE, NAICOB, Massachusett tribe, Pawtucket tribe); regional orgs with Somerville influence and impact (e.g. Mystic & Charles River Watershed Associations); grassroots organizations like MAMAS and Mothers Out Front; and less formal groups and individual residents, e.g. graduates of the City’s Climate Ambassadors program.
It’s also important to note that this subcommittee was made up of community volunteers that are deeply invested in this work and who had the capacity, time, resources, and other life conditions that made participation and contribution to this hastily assembled transition process possible. This committee does not accurately represent the demographics of the city. The committee was gender diverse (50% F, 33% M, 17% NB), but predominantly White (92% White or Predominantly Caucasian, 8% Asian) and Non-Hispanic (92% Non-Hispanic, 8% Brezhoneg), in contrast with Somerville as a whole. This subcommittee was also mostly homeowners (75% Homeowners, 25% Renters), which is not representative of the general population of Somerville.
Less Talk, More Action: Somerville has many great action plans to address sustainability and the environment, but implementation of those plans has been slow. We should prioritize taking action, trying things out, and adjusting accordingly to make progress, as we’ve seen with Vision Zero for pedestrian and cyclist safety. We encourage partnering with neighbors and community organizations such as Neighborways and Depave the Way to increase the speed of progress and engage the community as we move forward.
Prioritize Ecological Health and Natural Systems: Plans like the Climate Forward Plan and Green Stormwater Infrastructure Master Plan address climate and resiliency impacts, but do not adequately include ecological health and natural systems in a holistic way. Green assets and ecology have been underprioritized and should be considered as integral and connected with the other actions that are being evaluated and taken in the city.
Existing initiatives:
Integrative Planning - this is an opportunity to plan across departments to increase Somerville’s sustainability. This includes but is not limited to divestment, city purchasing and contracting, and capital projects.
The 2024 update to the climate forward plan lists actions to address five key categories: Buildings & Energy, Community Health & Resiliency, Natural Resources & Waste, Transportation & Mobility, and City Leadership.
In 2021, SomerVision 2040 issued an update to their comprehensive plan envisioning a diverse and sustainable future for the city.
Somerville is included in the state’s “Green Communities” program, and recently became one of the first communities to join the statewide “Climate Leaders” program.
The Office of Sustainability and the Environment has dedicated staff to address environmental and sustainability initiatives.
Social Sustainability - Social sustainability focuses on creating equitable, inclusive cities where people thrive alongside nature, emphasizing community well-being and social equity (fair access to resources/spaces).
MAMAS Collective and Community Fridges
The Somerville Community Growing Center Nature Programming
Groundwork Somerville South Street Farm
Somerville Mobile Market
Community Gardens - though expansion / wider access needed
Pocket Park 5-minute walkshed
Offices of Basic Needs and Housing
Natural Environment - Somerville puts a lot of effort into plans that address different environmental issues, however they tend to exist in silos, and overlook the fact that the environment is one connected system. By transitioning to ecological land care and strengthening current plans and ordinances, we can create spaces that fulfill the human need for nature, create habitat, support pollinators and other wildlife, clean the air, process stormwater, and cool our hot neighborhoods.
Somerville zoning includes the Green Score that requires certain amounts of planting and permeable area for buildings.
The Native Planting Ordinance mandates a certain percentage of planting in city-owned properties are native species to support local habitats and ecosystems.
Somerville zoning includes a Green Roof Amendment that requires a certain percentage of available roof space to be allocated to green roofs or solar panels.
The Leaf Blower Ordinance limits the use of gas powered leaf blowers to reduce air and noise pollution.
The Somerville Pollinator Action Plan creates a comprehensive approach to support native pollinators that live and migrate through Somerville.
Some parks have a requirement for more ecologically-based maintenance, but not to the extent necessary for true ecological health, nor in all of the parks and other green spaces across the city.
There has been a significant increase in the number of trees planted.
The city has removed SGARs from many city properties, if not all (it’s unclear if remaining boxes contain poison or snap traps).
The city created an ecological planning position and a gardening position.
Buildings - Somerville’s built environment has a huge impact on the city’s climate and sustainability goals and commitments. The built environment’s impacts expand across all areas of this report, but have been categorized separately to focus on building-specific actions.
Somerville’s greenhouse gas emissions index indicates that over 60% of Somerville’s GHG emissions come from buildings.
Somerville adopted the Specialized Opt-In Energy Code in early 2023 as one of the first communities to implement the new requirements.
Decarbonization studies are underway for the Brown, Edgerly, Kennedy, Cummings, and West Somerville Schools and the DPW. East, Healey, Argenziano, Capuano and the High School are part of a Mass School Works Initiative grant through the Mass CEC.
Somerville has begun planning to decarbonize schools over time, although this may not include urgent mechanical upgrades that may prevent electrification and high performance envelope upgrades for the next 20-40 years.
Energy - For Somerville to meet its climate commitments, we will need to transition away from fossil fuel-based energy and shift towards clean, renewable energy production. This will require changes in systems, infrastructure, and general approach to sourcing and managing energy within the city.
Somerville has committed to being carbon net negative by 2050.
Somerville completed a greenhouse gas emissions index and consumption-based emissions index to identify the city’s leading contributors to GHGs.
Somerville hired a consultant to analyze multiple sites for future district geothermal heating loops.
The new high school has solar panels on the roof.
Water - Water management covers green infrastructure, depaving, and residential stormwater management. As climate change brings increasingly heavy storms and flooding, we need to work swiftly to remove as much of our unnecessary impervious surfaces as possible, process as much of the stormwater as we can through green infrastructure (that also cools, mitigates pollution, provides oxygen, and can provide habitat), and help residents to keep water on their property instead of going into the storm drains and contributing to Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) events.
The city conducted a Green Stormwater Infrastructure Study in 2019 and issued a Drainage and Water Quality Master Plan in 2022.
The city has an ongoing sewer-stormwater separation project to help eliminate Combined Sewer Overflows.
The Combined Sewer Overflow plan is in draft form and will be submitted to the state on December 31st.
The City plans to implement a stormwater fee in early 2026, with fee amounts based on how much water a taxpayer’s property absorbs, i.e. the greater the amount of impervious surface and the less water the site absorbs, the higher the fee.
Street design improvements have created bioswales on some of our largest roads.
Waste & Circularity - Somerville can build on the success of developing a Zero Waste Program Plan by moving from theory to action when it comes to waste reduction. The recent curbside composting pilot in East Somerville is a great start, and we would like to see waste reduction be a focus for our city.
In 2023, Somerville put forward a Zero Waste Program Plan, recognizing the importance of waste reduction and the reality that municipalities will be ‘burdened with progressively higher disposal and transportation costs as disposal options and capacity in Mass becomes more limited.’ The city initiated a targeted composting pilot program.
Somerville offers a municipal program for mattress recycling.
The community has shown strong engagement and desire for better waste management opportunities.
The Climate Forward Plan includes proposed actions for building re-use and design for deconstruction to reduce construction and demolition waste.
Gaps:
Integrative Planning
Somerville has a process of engaging the community in the planning process, and has lots of plans on how to move forward. Many of those plans don’t translate into action and tangible outcomes.
Avoid silos: There are many groups that want the same outcomes. Municipal departments should be encouraged to work in collaboration and partnership with local advocacy groups to achieve shared goals.
Among Somerville’s many plans, there is a lack of cohesiveness and understanding of their relationships and impact on each other.
We need better and consistent communication, ways to share ideas, developing partnerships and collaborating on process, data collection, and findings reports so that we can have a good understanding of what is working, what isn’t, and where we need to focus.
There is a lack of broader community representation in the development of plans and regulations. We frequently see the same voices providing input, as is the case for this transition team.
The Climate Forward Dashboard is a laundry list of discrete tasks. It is hard to comprehend and implementation feels piecemeal.
Social Sustainability
Community garden spaces are few and have long waitlists, are inequitably distributed across the city, and have language and access barriers, including a lack of start-up costs for buying tools and seeds.
Warming centers have unclear hours and opening conditions. They did not open early enough this fall even when temperatures dropped below 20 degrees.
Air quality is a major health hazard and Somerville has dramatic inequities in pollution exposure. Adding noise/pollution barriers along I93 is the only idea that even seems to get brought up, and while important, there are other mitigation considerations as well. For example, when the Healey school playground was rebuilt there was no apparent consideration of air pollution mitigation. Additionally, gas powered leaf blowers are routinely used on school grounds despite the immense amount of toxins they produce at breathing level.
Lack of quality community engagement. City feedback processes have again and again felt rushed and non-inclusive (we felt the forming of our transition committee followed this pattern).
Somerville lacks green job training, especially for youth.
Planning lacks indigenous and youth voices and representation.
Natural Environment
Somerville’s approach to open space and planting does not adequately address its relationship as part of a whole ecosystem.
The city is not actively using action plans such as the Pollinator Action Plan as a regulatory guideline in planning and design of public spaces.
There is a lack of accountability and enforcement of the Green Score, Green Roof Ordinance, and Leaf Blower Ordinance.
Somerville does not have invasive plant species regulations or ordinances. This is foundational for supporting a healthy ecosystem.
Somerville doesn’t ban SGARs for rodent control.
The city has not committed to the open space goals in SOMERVISION 2040.
Buildings
There is no comprehensive and regularly updated capital needs and improvement plan on every municipally owned building. As a result, when systems fail they are emergent and don’t allow for decarbonization over time.
Despite 2050 goals, there is no clear plan for decarbonization of existing buildings and is not explicit about net zero commitments for new buildings.
The RFP for the new Winter Hill School had almost no mention of the city’s climate commitments or sustainability goals.
The city is not preparing for the increased electrical demand as it decarbonizes its existing buildings.
Energy
The city has not created a strategic plan to increase electrical distribution through the city to accommodate the increased demand from decarbonization.
The consumption-based emissions index provides insight into Somerville residents’ Scope 3 emissions, but no actions have been taken in response to this information.
Water
The Green Infrastructure Feasibility study and Drainage Master Plan focused on areas prone to flooding, but did not emphasize retaining and infiltrating stormwater higher up the hills before it reaches the valleys where it can’t adequately be absorbed. It also did not adequately address co-benefits of green infrastructure including increased habitats for native species, supporting migratory pathways of wildlife, or the public health benefits of increased greenspace.
The GSI feasibility study and masterplan did not include support for residents to reduce stormwater run-off from private property.
The stormwater fee rollout does not currently have any toolkit for Somerville landowners to access and that can help them increase pervious surfaces and on-site water absorption.
The city-wide sewer separation is moving too slowly.
As a City, we are not activating many small pockets of streetspace and impervious surface for stormwater runoff and flood mitigation, areas that currently can’t be used otherwise, e.g. space in front of fire hydrants where cars cannot park or edges of parking lots.
We lack a combination of skillset, capacity, and creativity within current staffing to adequately consider and incorporate green infrastructure for stormwater mitigation.
Waste & Circularity
With the exception of the recent curbside composting pilot in East Somerville, there has not been adequate progress towards achieving the goals of this Zero Waste Program Plan.
The composting pilot roll-out has been slow as compared with citywide composting in neighboring towns and cities.
Recycling contamination reduces the effectiveness of residents’ recycling efforts.
Recommendations for action:
Note: we did not include short-, medium-, or long-term goal designations. We trust the administration to determine what is feasible when, but we are able to advise if that is helpful.
Sustainable & Local Investment - Somerville's financial investments should align with the city’s goals
Somerville should divest from fossil fuel and weapons manufacturers to focus our investments to align with our climate goals and values. This should include intentional investment in renewable energy and green tech.
Create a fund to invest in local startups and small businesses to support economic momentum and resilience within the Somerville community.
Improve the process by which small businesses can start and thrive in our city.
Become LEED for Cities Certified. The LEED for Cities framework could serve as a helpful organizing structure for all sustainability efforts underway and to make progress and to lead on the holes.
Staffing - The new administration needs to make sure they have the right people making decisions. The mayor is the manager of the city and needs to make managerial decisions about the staff working for them.
Some departments are being directed by staff that have been in their role for many years. Some of them are doing a great job, while others have fallen into habits that are not moving Somerville forward.
We need city staff who are excited for their roles and eager to help the city do better than it is currently.
Many of the issues identified in this report suggest potential new roles within the city, including an invasive plant species management position and gardeners and DPW workers trained in ecological land care.
Encourage or require city departments to hold open office hours for the public.
Social Sustainability
Tap into young people in the area, looking to high school classes and clubs for ideas and feedback; form an official pipeline between the mayor's office and environmentally-oriented student groups for engagement. For example, the high school’s AP Environmental Science course and the food service CTE track.
Start tool and seed libraries where people could obtain starting materials for gardens.
Create an environment where inclusive feedback processes become the norm, not the exception.
Increase community gardening:
Find ways to use underutilized civic spaces to add raised bed gardens (think Victory Gardens in WWII). Spread them equitably across the city.
Consider collaborative farming spaces instead of individualized ‘ownership’ model plots.
Consider a community food forest to provide nature and food access (Boston Food Forest Coalition is a good example).
Create a community gardener grant for individuals and organizations to start their own gardens (including container gardens). Include money for soil testing.
School gardens are a highly underutilized resource to connect kids with nature, learn about food justice, and grow your own food. Provide monetary support and increase programming so they become a hub for families interacting in nature during school time and out of school time.
Mystic Apartments is currently applying for CPA funding to rebuild their community garden. If they get this funding, collaboration with the city (perhaps OFAHC) and local leaders to support ongoing programs and management of the space could be very helpful.
Address air quality inequities in pollution exposure (mapped by CAFEH and Groundwork Somerville green team). Form a task force to develop recommendations for remediation and reduction of air pollution, at local level and at state level (in addition to barriers along I93). Air filters or other air quality mediation measures should be required of all buildings close to major roadways. Special attention should be focused along I-93, at schools, and in environmental justice communities.
Create more public nature programming options across the City, using the Community Growing Center as a model.
Community engagement:
Programs need to be rolled out in an inclusive way, which is generally a slower, more work-intensive way. Inclusion should not be thought of as a check box.
Rushing based on pressures from part of the public, typically a more privileged part, rolls through programs without including everyone.
Inclusive community engagement requires foundational building of relationships and trust between the city staff and different communities - the stronger these relationships are the more easily connections can be made around particular programs.
Recognize that different communities will have different priorities at different times.
Center the voices of those most impacted and those most marginalized when collecting and utilizing feedback.
When the city gathers feedback it is important to let people see their feedback has been incorporated or at least considered. Doing lots of work to gather/give feedback to have the city ignore or not give a transparent response leads to people feeling disengaged (“Resilient Community Center” at East Library as an example of a feedback effort that went nowhere).
Trust is built up by residents feeling like the city will respond to them; people need to feel as though they have a say in important community decisions in their lives. Trust comes from time and showing up and proving you will do what you say you will.
Go out and meet people where they are at, don’t expect they will always come to you. Staff should be given time and funding to do this properly!
Prioritize community voices specifically from previously redlined neighborhoods in discussion of environmental goals, and actually use their feedback!
Processes to establish resilience centers need to show clear indications that community input is informing locations for new centers and resources and programming offered by these centers. Build on the work that CREW and Groundwork Somerville have done, with funding and in partnership with the Sustainability Office. Create centers that are comprehensive and truly responsive to community desires (e.g. laundry services).
Revisit potential sites for planting parks and civic spaces to ensure that all residents have easy access (within 0.5 mi) to green space, including parks, the Community Path, community gardens, and also to playgrounds (see Five minute Walkshed to pocket park).
Investigate heat islands in the city and target them for cooling centers/tree canopy growth. Groundwork Somerville teams have created maps that could be utilized.
Investigate creative ways to incentivize landlords to plant/preserve trees. And/or when a tree is removed in a neighborhood, offer saplings to surrounding residents to replace canopy.
Natural Environment
Ecological Land Care - Meet with the authors of the Ecological Land Care document (ELC) immediately to start the discussion on how to achieve the recommendations and goals within. Continue these meetings with appropriate city departments and staff to foster collaborative efforts for developing this administration’s strategy to improve our natural environment. Timeline of recommendations are in the ELC doc. Among the ELC recommendations are:
Adopt Ecological Land Care practices so we care for our land in a way that maximizes the health of all Somerville inhabitants (human, pollinator, and wildlife), and the plants, land, water, and air.
Revisit existing plans and ordinances to maximize their effectiveness and ecological impact. Some, like the Pollinator Action Plan, need to be fully implemented.
Hire more inspectors to ensure developers are following the Green Roof Ordinance, Green Score, and others. Hold developers accountable to create the green spaces that we need.
Support the DPW in caring for our lands by providing training and support, instead of outsourcing this work to outside contractors; create necessary staff positions in support of this.
Create a position in the city to manage invasives on city property and assist and educate residents about invasive plant management on private property. Integrate a policy of invasive plant species management within all plans and ordinances involving planting of green spaces.
Work to improve soil health and turf grass guidelines for city staff, homeowners, and developers as this will contribute to carbon sequestration.
Move forward with providing air pollution mitigation solutions for our vulnerable neighborhoods.
Strengthen rodenticide regulations, file a home rule petition to ban SGARs on private property, and move to adopt non-toxic controls methods across the city, including on development sites.
Enact Dark Sky measures.
Educate our youth on the importance of a healthy environment:
Develop programming for our future leaders by creating an environmental Career and Technical Education (CTE) program; identify funding and partnership opportunities for educational programs related to gardening, forestry, landscapes, and ecology, as well as renewable energy and sustainability tracks. Potentially open private property to CTE projects (similar to the auto mechanic program working on private cars).
Revamp the school garden programs.
Increase the percentage of green space in all civic space types especially with plazas and parks. Union Square plaza and Ken Kelley park are examples where this is needed (feedback from survey).
Buildings
Winter Hill School Case Study - The upcoming construction to rebuild the Winter Hill Community Innovation School provides the opportunity for the city to show leadership in sustainable building design for both the built and natural environment. The design and construction of the new WHCIS should aspire to more than code-required energy efficiency measures.
The new WHCIS should set a precedent for what beautiful, sustainable architecture in Somerville should be.
The project should prioritize building reuse and design for deconstruction to reduce embodied carbon, waste, and other environmental impacts.
Net zero energy should be a starting point. The building should generate more energy than it consumes.
The project should incorporate ecological landscape design and support native plants, habitats, wildlife, and human health.
The site should manage 100% of stormwater on site and take significant steps to reduce potable water usage.
The building should be free of toxic and red list material. Design should prioritize bio-based and renewable materials and biophilic design that enhances students’ health and wellbeing.
The city should pursue Living Building Challenge certification to achieve this level of performance.
Retrofitting Existing Schools and City Owned Buildings - Somerville does not currently have a suitable plan to decarbonize existing municipal buildings to meet our climate commitments.
Create a full capital needs assessment and capital budget for all city-owned buildings to decarbonize.
Weatherize and air seal all city owned buildings to reduce heating and cooling demands.
Decarbonize and electrify all city-owned buildings starting with schools, which have the greatest impact on municipal energy.
Explore innovative retrofit systems that can be installed while buildings are occupied.
Consider adding funding for improving all schools including decarbonization and electrification in the Prop 2 1/2 Ballot Initiative question that will go before voters in 2027 for the new Winter HIll/Brown school.
Restoring the “doing” mindset that fostered the SolarizeSomerville and Heat Smart/Cool Smart (ASHPs) programs, starting with something like “Keep the Heat” Envelope Improvement Program (i.e. Air Sealing and Insulation).
Energy
Grid Modernization - The city should work with the electric and gas utilities to create a comprehensive plan on how to modernize the electric grid.
Address the need for increased electrical capacity and the need for additional electric substations to support decarbonization efforts.
Plan to decommission existing gas infrastructure.
Somerville should continue to work with the local utilities, homeowners, developers, and municipal properties to initiate a district geothermal pilot and then expand it. This can also benefit from the federal incentives that were maintained for geothermal systems.
Consider new technologies such as distributed power generation through rooftop solar, battery storage, demand response, and Virtual Power Plant networks.
The city should commit to integrating all new buildings into these systems and create a timeline to integrate existing buildings into these networks.
Upgrade service to all school buildings now.
Renewable Energy - Advancing clean electricity is critical to meeting the city’s emissions commitments.
The Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for solar is lower than other sources of electricity generation. The city should install solar panels on 100% of available city-owned roofs now to offset as much of the city's energy use as possible. Doing this now will save money and reduce costs for the city.
Enhance zoning language to encourage solar panels over surface parking over a certain size.
Urban Agriculture - The Consumption Based Emissions Index completed in 2023 shows food production as one of the leading contributors to consumption-based emissions. The city should encourage and expand urban agriculture and urban foraging to give residents the opportunity to reduce their food-based emissions while also supporting public health and social equity.
AI - The city should create a policy to limit the use of AI for city operations until it can be utilized without major environmental impacts, including energy and water use, and pollution.
Water
Green Infrastructure - The city should expand use of green infrastructure as part of a comprehensive approach to addressing stormwater management, supporting native species, increasing greenspace, and supporting public health.
Conduct a new GSI study that incorporates more focus on upstream/uphill GSI installation to mitigate flooding in most vulnerable neighborhoods, like Union Square.
Direct appropriate city departments to adopt GSI as their first option in stormwater management.
In line with the new Ecological Land Care policy, the city should create a comprehensive plan on how to distribute green infrastructure through the city based on wildlife corridors, watersheds, and human needs with particular attention on enhancing greenspace within Environmental Justice communities.
Water on Private Property - The expansion of Green Infrastructure on public land should be paired with residential stormwater assessment.
Create a Mass Save-style residential assessment program to support residents in implementing these approaches on their own properties including rainwater collection, diversion, and infiltration, native planting and rain gardens, soil health, and reduced pesticide and rodenticide contamination. This program should also support residents in reducing their municipal stormwater fees under the new separate stormwater billing program. We strongly recommend you speak to experts in this field for guidance on how to do this well.
Reestablish a robust discount and free rain barrel program, ensuring residents’ lack of funds are not a barrier to obtaining barrels; use all methods of city communication and city-sponsored events to educate and alert residents about rain barrels. Include options for housing complexes and developments, and for direct rain barrel delivery to residents’ homes, since many Somerville residents are living car-free.
Engage community members and CRWA and MyRWA to build a resident-focused stormwater mitigation toolkit.
Provide funding to local Community Based Organizations who can help residents address site-specific and neighborhood stormwater issues, offsetting costs and building capacity within the Somerville community to address local flooding, CSOs, etc. (for example, the depaving program through Green & Open Somerville).
Sewer Separation acceleration and completion.
Review of storm water management plans in previously redlined areas. There could be rain garden opportunities that add in both green spaces and flooding reduction. This could be an opportunity to revive the rain barrel program and pay students to install them in these areas.
Waste & Circularity
Grants - Utilize State Waste Reduction Funding
Utilize Recycling Dividend Program Funds from MassDEP to support waste reduction initiatives. Somerville has over $100,000 in unspent funds.
Utilize other MassDEP Sustainable Materials Recovery Program Grants. Expand the number of points Somerville pursues.
Consult with our DEP contact to address the above issues.
Ron Cochran: ron.h.cochran@mass.gov, 617-519-0091
Expand Diversion Opportunities
Expand composting citywide through a citywide curbside program and drop-off locations. We should look to the funding models and program structures of our neighbors with successful programs: Medford, Cambridge, Watertown.
Increase drop-off days for hard-to-recycle items, including styrofoam and lithium batteries, among others.
Bring back textile recycling. Confirm the status of our curbside program and expand drop-off sites to heavily trafficked locations in the city.
Support repair/fixit clinics (e.g., clinic at the Cambridge Hackspace in Somerville).
Support exchanges of goods among residents, particularly when moving out (swap shops, zero waste days, etc).
Incent wine/liquor stores to properly take back returns (particularly for glass).
Increase awareness of items in the “Library of Things” and consider adding to it.
Waste Reduction in Schools
Implement front- and back-of-house food waste diversion in all Somerville schools. Utilize resources from MassDEP’s Green Sword School Waste Reduction group.
Design all new schools with dishwashers. We should aim to use reusable dishware for Somerville schools as it reduces waste, saves money, and protects our children from microplastic exposure.
Education
Increase education and outreach on reducing contamination and wishcycling.
Audit the Waste Wizard. Consider switching over from Waste Wizard to recyclesmartma.org search feature (statewide so not specific to our MRF but also updated frequently).
Advocacy / Policy
Adopt a robust Environmentally Preferred Purchasing policy for City procurement to support circularity.
Advocate for statewide extended producer responsibility bill, including signing onto the municipal resolution letter in the link.
Advocate for Enhanced Bottle Bill.
Policy
Explore shifting trash collection to a Unit Based Trash Pricing/Pay As You Throw Model. In this model, residents pay for the amount of trash they generate, similar to how utilities operate. The MassDEP has identified this as one of the best waste reduction measures a municipality can take. Municipalities in Massachusetts that have Pay As You Throw programs generate 30% less waste compared to non-PAYT communities. MassDEP provides grant funding and technical assistance to adopt PAYT programming.
Investigate working with neighboring towns to coordinate on recycling efforts (Brookline and Newton worked together for a better contract, e.g.).
Adopt MCAN’s model language for municipal RFPs for architectural and engineering services.
Address embodied carbon in construction and development; write a Deconstruction of Building Materials ordinance for development projects.
Engage regularly with the Building Electrification Accelerator specifically on other embodied carbon reduction ordinances in coordination with other municipalities and the state.
Mandate opt-in single use items for take-out and delivery (i.e. condiments, utensils, napkins).
Require municipal property marked for disposal to be offered for donation first.
Food Waste Diversion (Curbside Collection & Drop Off Sites)
20% of the MA waste stream is food waste; diverting this for all Somerville residents would have significant emission impacts. Neighbors such as Medford, Cambridge, and Watertown have adopted various models of city-wide composting access to all residents.
Expand access to textile recycling whether it be through curbside service or more conveniently located drop off locations. Previous estimates have put this at 5% of the waste stream.
Pass Comprehensive Recycling Regulations to require all generators, residential and business, to provide access to recycling. This will help keep banned recyclable materials and certain toxic materials out of the solid waste stream and ensure recycling access to all our residents, particularly to those in multi-family who likely currently lack recycling access. Consider something similar to this one from Attleboro.
Diversion Opportunities - Empower residents and businesses to divert hard-to-recycle items.
Targeted programs to shift restaurants away from black plastic takeaway containers.
Move to compostable materials for take-out and delivery packages; switch to white plastic; reusable containers.
Explore separated glass recycling (curbside, dropoff locations, etc.).
Shift citywide recycling away from single stream.
Appendix
We urge the Administration to consider the above recommendations in a complete and integrated manner while considering its strategies for improving the natural environment and sustainability assets of Somerville.
Ecological Land Care document
LEED for Cities
