MassDEP updates Recycling Market Development action plan; innovation grants to name finalists in December

The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on a virtual call in October 2025 updated stakeholders on the agency's Recycling Market Development action plan and funding tools aimed at growing in-state markets for recycled materials.

Claudine Elian, commercial waste reduction branch chief at MassDEP, told the work group the action plan was first published in February 2024 and that staff are preparing an update by the end of the calendar year. Elian said the agency has expanded the Recycling and Reuse Business Development Grant (RBDG) eligibility to include reuse projects, maintained the recycling loan fund administered by BDC Capital, and launched a Waste Reduction Innovation Grant earlier this spring. “We launched this in April just this year, 2025,” Elian said.

Why it matters: MassDEP's action plan ties to the state's Solid Waste Master Plan and is intended to support material-specific market development (packaging, organics, C&D, bulky goods, textiles) so the commonwealth can reduce disposal and build resilient local processing and reuse capacity. Elian noted the state has a disposal reduction target of 30% by 2030 and said market-development tools are a near-term avenue for tonnage reductions.

Key details: MassDEP staff said the agency has held nine RMD work group meetings since 2022 and will continue periodic convenings. The Waste Reduction Innovation Grant is in the application-review stage: Elian said MassDEP anticipates announcing award finalists in December 2025 and expects contracts and project starts in March–April 2026, contingent on final agreements. MassDEP also maintains guidance on starting recycling businesses in Massachusetts and provides outreach and workshops on business planning, grant writing and financing. Staff said they are coordinating with agencies such as the Operational Services Division (OSD) and the Division of Capital Asset Management (DCAM) to pilot purchasing of recycled-content products by state and local agencies.

Discussion and context: Participants asked for concrete examples of funded projects and were directed to program web pages that list awarded RBDG projects and recycling loan recipients. During the meeting several attendees raised storage and reuse infrastructure as recurring obstacles; speakers described multi-municipality reuse hubs that operate on state-owned property as potential models and encouraged further exploration of repeatable approaches. MassDEP staff said they would follow up with additional case studies and continue to partner with municipal and regional economic-development organizations.

What's next: MassDEP said it will post the meeting recording and resource materials on the RMD work group web page, hold a construction-and-demolition (C&D) markets meeting in December, and reconvene the RMD group in spring 2026 to review progress and next steps.