The Obstacles to Regional Resource Recovery: A Massachusetts Case Study

While state policy in Massachusetts favors regional action, there is evidence to suggest that the current level of state intervention and the difficulties municipalities have assessing the relative merits of alternative solid waste disposal technologies make it difficult to carry regional negotiations to a successful conclusion. Much of the difficulty surrounding efforts to implement regional resource recovery appears to stem from the failure to generate an adequate bargaining process in which (1) all the parties to the dispute are involved in the negotiations; (2) the impacts of alternative sites and technologies are adequately specified; and (3) procedures are adopted for fairly compensating the individuals and communities affected adversely. The efforts of a group of cities and towns in northeastern Massachusetts to implement a regional resource recovery plan is instructive on all these points. Strategies for overcoming existing barriers to regionalization are discussed.