Boston produces over a million tons of waste every year; and that number has only increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, said Chris Osgood, Boston’s chief of the Streets, Transportation and Sanitation.

But the city is working hard to reduce waste and aims to reach a recycling rate of 80% by 2035 and 90% by 2050.

On March 3 Osgood, along with Brian Coughlin, superintendent of Waste Reduction, spoke with the Chester Square Neighborhood Association after one neighbor asked, “Where does our trash really go?”

Osgood and Coughlin educated the group on waste, best recycling practices, and composting through the city.

Waste is transported to the Wheelabrator Waste to Energy Facility or the Casella Material Recovery Facility for recycling.

Boston partners with City Soil, where yard waste and food scraps are converted to compost and returned for use in community gardens or available to residents and businesses at a reduced price.

There is a huge opportunity to reduce waste in Boston by increasing composting and recycling, Osgood and Coughlin said.

36% of what ends up in the trash is actually compostable, while 39% is recyclable.

One simple way to make sure what you put in the recycling ends up being recycled is to thoroughly clean all items.

“15 to 20 % of our recycling is contaminated on average for the city,” Coughlin said.

“Cleaning recyclables is absolutely the best thing you can do. With increased contamination comes increased costs. The cleaner the material, the faster the recycling facility can sort through it.”

Since 2019, the city has increased yard waste collection to 20 weeks, with an additional 20 weekends where residents can drop off yard waste at City Soil’s facility along American Legion High Way.

Another composting option is Project Oscar, Boston’s first 24-hour community composting program, named after the Sesame Street character.

Residents can drop off compost for free at five community bins located in East Boston, the North End, Brighton, Jamaica Plain, and City Hall Plaza.

In late October, the city launched a textile recycling program in partnership with Helpsey.

Since then, the city has already diverted over 50 tons of clothing from the waste stream.

There are plans to roll out more collection bins for clothing recycling as well as to implement a curb side model for pickup.

Boston’s plans to achieve zero waste date back to 2014, when the city’s Climate Action Plan announced intentions to “explore a zero waste plan for residential waste.” In 2018, Mayor Walsh appointed a Zero Waste Boston Advisory Committee, headed by Osgood and Christopher Cook, chief of Environment, Energy and Open Space. Boston’s zero waste plan was announced the next year.

“By implementing the strategies over time, Boston can reduce trash, increase recycling and composting by about 638,000 tons per year, increasing Boston’s current recycling rate from approximately 25 percent to 80 percent by 2035,” the city’s website explains.

“Approximately six percent of Boston’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the City’s discarded materials.

By reducing waste, recycling more, and composting, Boston can reduce emissions associated with waste and move one step closer to its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.”