Incinerated ash arriving in Shrewsbury from Saugus: Why and what does it mean?

SHREWSBURY — Judy Vedder didn’t know it was happening.

Vedder, a longtime Shrewsbury resident, didn’t realize that trash incinerated in Saugus is being trucked into Shrewsbury. It started April 1.

The development raises questions — why is this happening, who allowed it and what does it mean for residents, especially their health.

While Vedder has lived in Shrewsbury for over 30 years, including 20 years as a Town Meeting member and nine years on the town’s finance committee, she had no idea ash from Saugus, 50 miles away, was being trucked into her town.

"My impression was we only take ash from the Millbury plant into our landfill. I’m not aware that we're allowed to take ash from other plants.”

The Millbury plant Vedder mentioned is owned by WIN Waste Innovations.

Since the 1980s, Shrewsbury and WIN have had a contract that sends the towns’ trash to WIN’s waste-to-energy incinerator in Millbury. Ash is the result, and WIN's trucks take it back to Shrewsbury, where WIN operates the landfill at 620 Hartford Turnpike. Shrewsbury owns the land the landfill sits on.

Actually, it's called a monofill because it takes only incinerated ash. WIN pays Shrewsbury roughly $1.5 million annually to deposit ash there.

WIN did not respond to a question of how much it pays Shrewsbury to deposit additional ash from Saugus. Documents supplied by Shrewsbury Town Manager Kevin Mizikar did not state if any payments are made to Shrewsbury for its receipt of ash from Saugus.

Why is Saugus' ash coming to Shrewsbury?

In a nutshell, WIN’s Saugus monofill is running out of room, based on state regulatory requirements. So it's trucking half of the ash generated to Shrewsbury in order to keep the Saugus monofill going.

That averages out to six truck trips daily, dumping approximately 4,500 tons of ash monthly, according to WIN. In 2023, before the influx from Saugus, WIN trucked roughly 308,000 tons of ash and other residuals to Shrewsbury from a variety of sources, including the Millbury incinerator.

Can WIN do this?

WIN received approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection to use part of the Saugus monofill as a staging area to transport ash to other licensed facilities. The DEP said its approval is not needed to make the transport. The only requirement, according to the DEP, is a 14-day advance notice given to state environmental officials and the Saugus Board of Health before shipping waste off-site.

It’s not the first time WIN has trucked ash from Saugus to Shrewsbury. From January to April 2018 WIN transported all of its ash from Saugus to Shrewsbury. That happened during a permitting process to modify the Saugus monofill.

Is there toxic risk to Shrewsbury?

The state Department of Environmental Protection noted in an April 2018 letter to WIN that detectable concentrations of metals in the combined ash at the Saugus landfill consistently reported below EPA hazardous levels. As a result, the ash is defined as nonhazardous solid waste and can be disposed in a landfill.

WIN noted that before its arrival in Shrewsbury, the ash is processed through an advanced screening system to extract recyclable ferrous and nonferrous metal. In other words, metals containing and lacking iron. Third-party consultants and laboratories conduct robust environmental testing, according to WIN, with results regularly submitted to the state DEP and the Shrewsbury Board of Health.

Diane Jones thinks ash trucked to Shrewsbury from Saugus could have negative environmental impacts. Jones has lived in Shrewsbury for 35 years, sits on the town’s conservation commission and worries that ash from Saugus could cause Shrewsbury's monofill to fill up faster.

If it happens, Jones said more solid waste could be trucked to landfills outside Massachusetts. That would be a terrible result, said Jones, because those landfills will bear the brunt of solid-waste-producing methane that contributes to global warming and sludge that contains toxins.

“It becomes a problem elsewhere, and it can be really toxic for other people,” said Jones.

Mizikar noted Shrewsbury's monofill is expected to reach capacity by 2032. The estimate is based on information provided by WIN, said Mizikar.

Vedder also worries that shipments from Saugus will fill up Shrewsbury’s monofill at a quicker pace. However, her concern isn't environmental, it's financial. If the local monofill taps out, it means no more $1.5 million annual payments from WIN.

“That’s concerning to me as a taxpayer. It will shorten the life of our town’s revenue stream," said Vedder

How long will this last?

It's unclear how long WIN will ship ash from Saugus to Shrewsbury.

WIN said in an email that it needs approval from the state to operate its Saugus landfill beyond its current permitted capacity. The limit is based on height, topping out at 50 feet above median sea level.

If some Saugus residents had their way, the monofill and adjacent incinerator plant, also owned by WIN, would already be gone. They claim it's an environmental hazard that risks the community's health.

They also cite a consent order executed in 1989 by the state DEP and Resco, the predecessor company to WIN, to bring Resco’s ash management and disposal requirements into compliance with Massachusetts solid waste handling and disposal regulations.

The consent order indicated the landfill was to close by Dec. 31, 1996. However, the order has been amended 11 times by the state DEP. Many of the amendments were based on design changes made by Resco/WIN to show available landfill capacity. The amendments also include payments by the company to protect the Rumney Marsh, a sensitive environmental area where the landfill is located.

Critical environmental concern

The state designated the Saugus landfill an area of critical environmental concern and previously said the landfill's expansion would not comply with environmental regulations.

In a November 2021 DEP letter to state Rep. Jeffrey Turco, D-Winthrop, then-DEP Commissioner Martin Suuberg said the landfill failed to meet the necessary site suitability criteria to allow for expansion within the area of critical environmental concern. As a result, it would not receive a positive site suitability determination.

"Without a positive site suitability determination from MassDEP, a proposal to amend the facility's site assignment to allow for vertical expansion would not advance to the Saugus Board of Health for consideration," the letter reads.

A March DEP 2023 letter to Turco and state Rep. Jessica Giannino, D-Revere, from then-DEP acting Commissioner Gary Moran supported Suuberg's earlier determination.

Saugus vote: What does it mean?

Meanwhile, the Saugus Board of Selectmen voted 3-2 to support a host community agreement brought forth by WIN. It would allow WIN to continue using the landfill in exchange for the company paying $20 million in economic benefits to the town, along with investments to lessen environmental impacts.

Debra Panetta, chairwoman of the Saugus Board of Selectmen, said that vote was only done to ensure the town got something out of WIN in case the DEP gave WIN another extension to keep the monofill open.

Selectman have no authority to decide a host community agreement, said Panetta, noting the only person who does is Town Manager Scott Crabtree. According to Panetta, Crabtree won't sign the agreement at this time. A call and email to Crabtree that requested comment was not returned.

Panetta also claimed WIN is only interested in saving money because it's cheaper to dump ash from the company's incinerator in Saugus instead of trucking the material to Shrewsbury.

"We want to see the landfill closed as soon as possible, it's that simple," said Panetta.

WIN sees it differently. "We strongly believe the best financial and environmental option for the town, the state and our company is to continue to manage the ash onsite and keep additional trucks off our roadways," said Mary Urban, WIN's senior director of communications and community, in a an email. "We are hoping the shipping of ash is temporary as we continue to work toward a signed HCA with the Town of Saugus."

Contact Henry Schwan at henry.schwan@telegram.com. Follow him on X: @henrytelegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Incinerated ash arriving in Shrewsbury from Saugus concerns residents