While the picture with this article isn’t the clearest, it surprised me when it showed up after typing in Rochester, MA. The Wikipedia entry for Rochester begins with this view of a smokestack at an industrial site. I had to double check that it wasn’t for Rochester, NY. While I did recognize it as SEMASS, I wasn’t sure that the photo spoke “Rochester” to me. However, when I was looking through newspaper clippings for info on the water tower, I came across folders of clippings about the SEMASS trash to energy plant, so the picture and the clippings combined led to this article.
SEMASS, or at least the idea of it, took up reams of newspaper during the mid to late 1970s. The idea of a plant that would turn trash into energy had many backers, including Rochester selectman, Fred Underhill Sr. There were a variety of hurdles to its creation. One of them was that the financial feasibility of such a plant was dependent on being able to come up with enough trash. While we all know there’s always plenty of trash around, SEMASS would need agreements from area towns to send their trash to the plant.
Eventually, enough towns and cities signed up, including Carver, Freetown, Marion, Mattapoisett, Wareham and then Fairhaven, New Bedford and towns on Cape Cod. By 1980, the plant got initial approval and by November 11, 1985 (after 8 years of planning), there was a groundbreaking ceremony.
Once the plant began operating in the late 80s, the many newspaper articles continued. Some were about the financial boon that the trash to energy plant was for Rochester, but many more were complaints. In part, the complaints were about issues of noise, odors and traffic. There were, however, more interesting tales about items found in the trash. Shortly after the plant opened, a gold ring was found along with keys, forks, spoons and pennies, lots of pennies that had found their way into household trash. There were days when the coins and metal added up to $1000-$1500. Some of this money went to schools in the area.
Probably, the most unusual find was a car buried in the landfill in 1990. A 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix was buried under year old trash by the owner and an accomplice in an attempt to collect on insurance after reporting it stolen. After a tip, Rochester police searched with a backhoe over two days. When they found the car, it had been flattened, but the license plate was intact. The perpetrators, two of whom worked there, were arrested and tried. These days things seem much quieter at the SEMASS, though there have been many changes over the years.
By Connie Eshbach