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When the New Bedford Board of Health reviewed a controversial proposal to build a waste transfer station near the city’s Pine Hill Acres neighborhood, residents shouted, “New Bedford is not your dumping ground.”
The comment could refer to the city’s history of pollution — home to two active Superfund sites — and high rates of public health issues compared to the state. But is New Bedford more of a dumping ground than any other former industrial town?
Yes, The Light has found.
New Bedford has one of the highest concentrations of waste facilities in Massachusetts, tied with Fall River and Lowell. If the new transfer station goes through, the city would rank No. 1.
The Light analyzed the landfills and waste transfer stations in or near Massachusetts’ gateway cities — mid-sized cities designated by the state for their high rates of immigration and industrial pasts.
New Bedford, Fall River, and Lowell each have four active landfills or waste transfer stations for roughly 100,000 residents, according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Most other gateway cities have two or fewer. According to state GIS data, New Bedford also boasts the most waste facilities located directly within environmental justice communities.
Massachusetts recognizes 26 gateway cities across the state, each characterized by populations between 35,000 and 250,000, median household incomes below state average, and educational attainment below state average. Because of their shared history as industrial towns and high rates of immigration, many gateway cities also overlap with what the state calls “environmental justice” communities — low-income and high-minority populations disproportionately burdened by environmental hazards.
In 2022, Parallel Products, doing business as South Coast Renewables, proposed an additional waste transfer station at the New Bedford Business Park at 100 Duchaine Blvd. Processing an estimated 1,500 tons of solid waste per day, the facility, if approved, would be one of the largest waste transfer stations in the state. It stands to bring in an estimated 75 jobs and $1 million-plus in annual revenue to the City of New Bedford.
The project now sits with the city’s Board of Health for approval, with the final public hearing on the issue scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 26, at the Casimir Pulaski Elementary School.
Mayor Jon Mitchell did not provide a comment before the publication deadline.
Leo Choquette, the Ward 1 city councilor representing the neighborhood abutting the proposed transfer station, said The Light’s findings did not shock him.
“I grew up in the shadow of Crapo Hill Landfill when I was a kid, so I know the legacy of trash,” Choquette said in a phone call. “It further strengthens my feelings that Parallel Products, South Coast Renewables, absolutely should not be here.”
“Anyone who approves this project should have their medical license revoked,” Choquette added.
Waste, inequality, and environmental justice
Kirstie Pecci is the executive director of Just Zero, a national nonprofit focused on finding solutions to the country’s waste crisis. According to her, The Light’s findings follow a pattern of inequality seen across the country.
Over the past several decades, America’s trash has moved from small, local landfills and recycling centers to regional centers operated by large corporations that gather, store, and eliminate waste.
What that means, Pecci said, is that these larger waste sites end up in the backyards of communities that most need the revenue and have the least resources and political power to stop them. Cities like Lowell and Springfield — with large industrial footprints, histories of public health issues and lower tax bases — are particularly vulnerable.
“We see places where we haven’t done a good job of supporting other economic opportunities desperate for something new and something good to come in for tax revenue,” Pecci said.
At first glance, these kinds of facilities may seem like good solutions for the cities that host them, Pecci said. Waste transfer stations make it easier to ship trash elsewhere.
Many Massachusetts cities are increasingly exporting their waste out of state, due to shrinking space, higher volumes of waste, and stricter regulatory burdens. Last year, the state exported 3 million tons of garbage to be buried or incinerated. New Bedford may need to do more of this, because its own regional landfill, Crapo Hill Landfill in Dartmouth, is expected to reach capacity within the next five years, although city officials say with new technology, the landfill’s life expectancy could extend to at least 13 years.
But waste transfer stations don’t do anything to reduce the amount of waste Massachusetts creates, Pecci said. They also attract rats and other vermin while posing a high risk of fire compared to more sustainable recycling or composting facilities, she added.
“It’s not a long-term solution, it’s not a short-term solution, it’s not a solution at all,” Pecci said.
And while wealthier communities might have more time, resources, and expertise to fight these projects, working-class communities may not.
“In New Bedford, you have a wonderful community of people who really care, but if you have more money, you have more time, and you have more access to people who can get this work done,” Pecci said.
This pattern is a large part of why Massachusetts first introduced designated environmental justice communities in 2021. The goal is to lessen the environmental burdens on low-income and minority populations. Any applicant proposing potentially harmful projects, like waste transfer stations, in an environmental justice community must make greater attempts to engage and educate the public, using tools from translation services to in-person meetings.
Nearing the policy’s five-year anniversary, however, Wendy Morrill, the president of environmental activist group South Coast Neighbors United, says the policy has done little to combat environmental injustice in places like New Bedford.
Although more than a third of New Bedford residents over the age of 5 speak a language other than English, not a single attendee at the three most recent waste transfer station hearings used translation services. Community members who did attend were overwhelmingly white and over the age of 50.
Morrill herself said she had only attended one Zoom meeting about the proposal in its earlier days, as all in-person community meetings hosted by Parallel Products had taken place during working hours.
“If you wanted to really improve and enhance these communities, you would put in stricter regulations in regards to the types of business that can happen in these communities,” Morrill said. “It’s performative. It’s to be able to say they are making progress when they are really not.”
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, to clarify city officials’ latest estimate on the Crapo Hill Landfill’s life expectancy.
It is real simple New Bedford needs new leadership in City Hall.
I agree! And it doesn’t stop there. The MassDEP willfully disregards the needs of the people too.
One issue that nobody embraced is the current condition of drought within Southeastern MA! This has become a repetitive occurrence in recent years, with water restrictions placed on residents! This Parrallel Products process uses prolific amounts of water! They need to find another way! The lessening quality of life to an uncertain, overdeveloped future is a terrible risk to take!
Looks to me to be a quality of life issue versus an additional revenue stream for the City. This is a tough spot for local government to be in…you can’t split the baby on this one. It comes down to what decision will best benefit the City as a whole…extra funding to repair infrastructure and provide services, or solidarity with those most impacted by this proposal who have to live with the fallout. Hopefully the wisest path will be chosen…
As a wise Vulcan once said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one.”
We the residents should be the voice! Not the Mayor and councilors. If statistically found we don’t want, then, it should not come here. 75 jobs is nothing! Residents health, property value and voices are the most important. NO TO. PARALLEL . The people are suffering for the choices of factories, such as Service, Belleville Ave, Fiberleather. The health of the workers show what happens when facilities to produce are chosen over, residents lives! Look at the grounds clean up, what about their internal health.
Deby, you are speaking my language! Every time I read or heard, “75 jobs,” I felt increasingly angry. There are many reasons why, but with all the AI talk, I cyclically ask, “Yeah, for how long?” Not only should human life not be measured with “trade offs,” but this number isn’t even the one that matters to Parallel Products/SCR or the government. Their focus is on much higher numbers, the kind that speak of riches. Tons of trash means tons of money — none of which is meant for the everyday citizen. Once we zero in on that reality, so many other sentences are enraging. Like when the Mayor goes on TV to say he got New Bedford the best deal he could. Really? And by the way, didn’t he get gagged in this proposal process? Why is he speaking FOR this project when he isn’t allowed to speak out against it? Curious how that worked out! New Bedford deserves better, and if Mitchell is no longer working towards a bright future for this entire city, he should recognize that he’s reached the end of his capacity and move on. Someone who cared about the people of New Bedford would want us to have the best representation.
Who elects the Mayor and City Councilors?
Aerovox, when at Belleville Ave.
As a younger person who has become increasingly more concerned with local politics this year, I’ve gone to a couple of events such as protests and I’ve brought a couple friends with me. We’re in our early 20s, and we’re always definitely the outliers when it comes to age. I don’t know if we all just have less time to do things like this because we’re constantly working, or if there are other reasons, but I’d like to understand how more people my age can get more involved in the community. I think a lot of us barely even understand what’s going on locally, and so a lot of people just don’t seem to care in the first place. It seems a lot of people my age are more concerned with what celebrities are doing or TikTok trends. I wish New Bedford was more of a community. I often feel pretty isolated from other people my age. Of course I have friends, but we barely even hang out.
I think we’re in dire need of things like third spaces or something. I love the library myself, but it’s not exactly a first pick for young people to go hang out there. I think if we had a space like that, it would be easier to build community and actually be connected with our home and care about it more. Maybe we’d see more of the things going wrong day to day if we were outside more often.
I don’t know though. I just try to dream of a better world as much as I can these days. I try my best to think of what could make it better. I definitely feel that we at least need stronger community here in NB.
Thank you for coming out and inviting your peers. I understand young adults have a lot of commitments and find it hard to make the time, but it is your future. I am older now and try to be active about social and environmental issues. I wish I had been more active when I was in my 20’s.
Aiden, I think you’re right, and I am so happy that you are getting involved. I’m new to paying more attention to the local too. It really is where we can make the most difference, and there are moments of pure inspiration. Like during the public comment portion of the Aug. 7 BOH meeting. There are a lot of people here with compatible goals. I have faith that our community will keep building up. Matt Marko, a candidate for Ward 1 councillor, spoke to the New Bedford Guide this week. And he spoke of his ideas for building up the community spirit here. I encourage you to check it out because I think that he’s set on this goal regardless of whether or not he wins.
This is a very unfortunate situation however please spare us the liberal environmental justice and inequality BS lingo. It just dumb downs the issue.
Hi Randy. I was surprised by the term when I first learned of it last year, but it’s actually the term that’s been used for decades. And when you read about all it describes, there’s really no other way to describe it succinctly and politely. It’s not socially acceptable, I guess, to say that the powerful elite are “pooping” on everyone else. Now that I know more, I find it highly suspicious that these everyday environmental matters were made to look a certain way. We can’t keep letting the government minimize the importance of our environment. Our air quality. Our roads. On another note, I completely hear you on the “liberal” terminology. Did you hear about Third Way’s study on the words Democrats should stop using? I don’t believe either party is looking out for its constituents, but the Democrats’ willful resistance to accepting that they are putting people off is infuriating. The people may not be as “educated” as them, but we aren’t idiots! We don’t want to be “charmed” into more of the same. I, for one, am sick of the, “We just can’t pass popular policy…” TRY!
Very good article and so true. New Bedford is only 24.1 sq miles, not all of it is land mass. What is the saturation point for trash? Surely we have exceeded it by now. What wasn’t addressed in this article is how residents would evacuate in the event of a fire outside the building. I’m concerned about how I would evacuate by car given the heavy traffic in the area. Everyone has to drive on Phillips Rd to get out of the area. Yesterday, I stood at the intersection of Braley Rd & Phillips Rd, the Main entrance into the Business Park. I counted at least 560 vehicles traveling through that intersection from 5- 5:25 validating my concern about traffic. And this is during the summer before school bus traffic and parents dropping off or picking up children at Pulaski. Add at least 200 more round trips trash trucks if this project is approved.
There have been rodents spotted in Pine Hill and last week I found a dead bunny in my yard in Pine Hill. There was no sign of trauma, it was laying on its side and looked like it was sleeping but with its eyes open. It was somewhere between a baby bunny and an adult rabbit. I later learned that there have been at least 9 dead bunnies in the far north end in past two weeks that I’ve heard about. What if a small child came across it? Would it mistake the bunny for a stuffed animal and touch it, try to play with it or carry it to show their parents. A terrifying thought.
If you are against this project for a variety of reasons, you can address a comment to the Board of Health by writing a letter and dropping it off at BOH 1213 Purchase St., New Bedford, MA 02740 before the office closes at 4:00 pm on Tues 8/26. It must be in hand by then and a secretary records your name, date and time in a log to verify it arrived. It’s too late to mail it by USPS. or you can do it electronically with this link https://forms.office.com/g/R8KiF6kzSG?origin=lpr
Please attend the last Board of Health Hearing on 8/26 at 6:30 at Pulaski to hear experts discuss fire, traffic and wetlands. Interpreters will be available during this meeting in Portuguese, Spanish and Cape Verdean Creole and you’ll hear the translation by wearing a headset.
Great info, Betty! Like you, I appreciated the article, but I hope the New Bedford Light keeps digging into these issues. Fire risk does not get enough attention, and with higher wind speeds every year, it’s a more important topic than ever before. New Bedford’s environmental conditions are our past, present, and future. They must be discussed as if they are everyday concerns because they are.
Thank you for this article.
So it would potentially create jobs for .00075% of our residents and while exposing hundreds to environmental threats, sounds like corporate math. Thanks for shining a light on this preditory practice.
“Corporate math!” I love that description, and I totally agree.
Why should we be everyone’s dumping ground for hazardous bio waste? Let these other communities solve their own waste problems. What a weak group of state and federal government elected officials.
I agree with the concerns,
but where are we going to dispose of our trash.
Nobody wants them in their neighborhood,so where then?
The problem, as far as I can tell, is that our representatives aren’t trying hard enough to break the trash cycle. There are experts to consult and waste reduction efforts that have proven track records, but the dominant messaging is still coming from the people in power/with influence who benefit from the current waste model. They want us to believe that we have to accept these circumstances, but they’re withholding a lot of information. They pretend to not know other ways, and because they are the ones with the fancy titles, we are supposed to believe them.
I may not know “where,” but I know — and they know — where it’s worse for people. Parallel Products/SCR want to exploit New Bedford’s rail access; they don’t care about the people. It’s not that PP/SCR can’t set up shop somewhere else. They just find this current location easier, and the MassDEP — knowing full well that New Bedford is already overburdened — basically said, “Go ahead! New Bedford is used to being dumped on! And they don’t have the political capital to stop you! Thanks for the money!” The Board of Health actually has the power to stop them, but I think they need our support to do it.
At the BOH meetings, three medical professionals were sandwiched between a corporation and lawyers. The optics weren’t great, but it’s not the whole story. Parallel Products/SCR want us to believe that this is inevitable, and the MassDEP emboldened them. But the people and the BOH have power too. That’s why they spend so much time trying to convince us we don’t. So, it’s worth showing up on August 26th, and it’s worth submitting a comment. Any comment. There’s no right or wrong way to let them know that you care about this matter.
Keep in mind none of this is ours.
Most of the waste is ours.
The Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island need a place for their trash to go. Isn’t it about time they do their share? Transfer it to Pasque Island! Oh, and Parrallel Products renovation of the Sunbeam Bread buildings is a nice makeup for what they already do to the City!
Pasque Island!
Where should New Bedford’s waste go?
At the BOH meeting, Parallel Products/SCR made it clear that they are setting up a business that serves (at least) the state, not New Bedford. They couldn’t even list New Bedford businesses by name that would “benefit” from this service. They spoke of large corporations and the quick turnaround of multiple train cars. They even hinted at what might happen in the future. It seemed to me that Parallel Products/SCR envisions a trash empire.
As for New Bedford’s trash, there are experts eagerly willing to help extend the life of Crapo Hill. There are people with provable ideas for minimizing our waste. We can find another way to deal with New Bedford’s waste. The trouble is that government is incentivized to maximize waste.
I do believe if we used SCIENCE and had black and grey water areas to get unpolluted on a large scale like off grid folks do. My new neighbor does waste management for smaller towns. As an anonymous old retired school teacher, I know we can do this. Plastic is in everything. It is said we eat a credit card every 2 weeks.
ABSOLUTELY NOT NO ONE WANTS TO SMELL GARBAGE ESP IN THE SUMMER AND WE DONT NEED RATS AND PROPERTY VALUES TO DECLINE CAUSE OF WASTE SO DISCUSTED
I do believe if we used SCIENCE and had black and grey water areas to get unpolluted on a large scale like off grid folks do. My new neighbor does waste management for smaller towns. As an anonymous old retired school teacher, I know we can do this. Plastic is in everything. It is said we eat a credit card every 2 weeks.
To all New Bedford Residents on Aug 26th we need a show of support, please come out to Pulaski School and send a loud and clear message to the Board Health that the expansion of Parallel Products / South Coast Renewables is not wanted and should not be approved.
What is always overlooked is the fact from the moment we are born people are indoctrinated to believe that our only purpose is to consume, litterally called consumers and that consumption is good for the economy while completely ignoring the environmental impact of consumption.
Having been on both sides of the issue, both in the supply and what happens when things get thrown away it’s beyond insanity what we have done to the planet in the name of consumption.
Landfills only scratch the surface on one side of this issue, on the other side is everything needed from the mining to manufacturing to bring this cheap junk to the consumer only to be quickly thrown away.
Massachusetts has so much trash that it’s classified as renewable energy that incineration plants use to their advantage for tax breaks and subsidies.
Final though do we actually have an energy crisis or do we have a consumption crisis?
I always thought, since I moved to N B that something was rotten here.
From politics to trash …….
New Bedford Light, you need to finish, follow up on stories. Mainly December 2024 article on the School department paying for deceased member healthcare monthly premiums.
I remember living in the south end near county and rivet street, and the god awful smell of smelly trash in the summer while driving on rte 18. This is crazy that this proposal is even being considered! I love how they try to sell it as 75 jobs and a million for the city!
No mam, no ham, no thank you.
Why don’t they take one of the Elizabethan Islands, away from population centers with easy water access, and use that!
That would make sense. We all know they have no common sense!