Landfill subcommittee plans to meet with WIN Waste Innovations later this month

WIN is expected to unveil a response to subcommittee’s “to do” list for improving trash-to-energy site and landfill

  WIN Waste Innovations is finally set to sit down with town officials and offer a proposal on what could be included in a new host agreement related to the operation of its trash-to-energy plant and the adjacent ash landfill on Route 107.

  “Nothing is more important to us than our partnerships with the communities we serve,” WIN Waste Innovations Vice President of Environment Affairs James Connolly said this week.

  “We look forward to continuing our discussions with the Landfill Committee on ways in which the Town can maximize the benefits of our public-private partnership with Saugus,” Connolly said.

  A meeting between the Board of Health’s Landfill Subcommittee and WIN Waste officials has been set for July 27 at 7 p.m. in the second floor auditorium at Saugus Town Hall, according to Board of Selectmen Chair Anthony Cogliano, who co-chairs the panel with Board of Health Chair William Heffernan. This is a rescheduling of the meeting that was originally planned for February, but was postponed indefinitely until the board was operating at full strength.

  Selectmen at their May 3 meeting voted 4-0 to approve Town Manager Scott C. Crabtree’s appointment of Anthony J. Bakopolus, DMD to fill the seat relinquished by former Committee Vice Chair Shawn Ayube when he moved away from Saugus last year. The seat had been vacant for around a year.

  The Board of Health subcommittee, which in recent months has been referred to as the Landfill Committee, was created by the Board of Health in late 2020 to promote a better working relationship with WIN Waste (formerly Wheelabrator) on issues related to the incinerator and ash landfill. A main focus of the committee members over the past year has been the development of a new host agreement that addresses a wide range of health, safety, environmental and community issues.

  These are key issues that members want to see as part of the agreement:

• All members agree health is most important, and company officials should verify they are doing all they can to make sure everyone is safe in Saugus and surrounding communities.
• The Committee would like to look into a program like Massport with Winthrop with the noise issue there.
• Continued testing for the public safety, continue to work with the committee, striving as much as possible for clean, quality air coming out of the stacks while lowering noise levels and testing what is in the ash. Water testing, especially around all three landfills
• Co-Chair Cogliano wants to know about air quality monitors
• Lower NOx (nitrogen oxides) levels without purchasing credits
• Keep upgrading facility to invest in it to make it more modern
• Plan Comprehensive Health Study, funding for air quality testing and small particle testing, funding for noise monitoring
• Construction of a third fire station to cover the west side of town
• Free tipping fees
• Striving for air quality for a better quality of life

  • Create a subcommittee for closing of the ash landfill