Worcester’s Chief Sustainability Officer John Odell Outlines Path to a Zero Waste Future

By-Hank Stolz

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WORCESTER, MA– John Odell, the Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Worcester, stops by Talk of the Commonwealth to update us on the Zero Waste Master Plan, which aims to reduce trash, lower city costs, and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.

Odell talks about the importance of public input, the findings from a recent trash analysis, and the need for better education on recycling to combat “wish-cycling.” “Wish-cycling,” is where residents mistakenly put non-recyclable items in their bins. He gave a specific example that black plastic items cannot be recycled because they are invisible on the sorting facility’s black conveyor belts.

The city’s signature “Pay As You Throw” program has come in for criticism in recent years but Odell defends the program, “It’s not a perfect system… part of what we’re doing with the master plan will include potential options to improve that program to address those exact concerns.”