Press Release  AG's Office Secures Up To $250,000 Settlement With Grafton Company Over Permit Violations And Air Pollution That Caused Nuisance Odors

GRAFTON — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced today that the Suffolk County Superior Court has entered and approved a consent judgement against Grafton-based Feedback Earth, Inc. – a for-profit food-waste recycling company – resolving allegations that the company violated the Massachusetts Clean Air Act and the Massachusetts Solid Waste Disposal Act for installing unauthorized machinery, processing unapproved feedstocks, and emitting rancid odors that affected Grafton residents as far as 4.4 miles away from the facility. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Feedback Earth will pay up to $250,000 in penalties to the Commonwealth. Up to $30,000 of that amount may be suspended for two years contingent upon the company’s compliance with the full terms of the agreement, Massachusetts environmental laws, and the surrender of all its outstanding operating permits. Of the settlement funds, $110,000 will be deposited into the Massachusetts Environmental Justice Fund to support on-the-ground projects that address environmental harms in disadvantaged communities across the Commonwealth.    

“Communities should not have to suffer the consequences of businesses prioritizing profits over compliance with our reasonable environmental laws and regulations,” said AG Campbell. “This settlement holds Feedback Earth accountable for harming our residents and puts other companies on notice that we will not tolerate business practices that threaten people’s right to breathe fresh air.”   

“Clean air is a fundamental right and today, the residents in Grafton can breathe a little easier," said MassDEP Commissioner Bonnie Heiple. "Thank you to AG Campbell and her terrific team for collaborating with us to uphold the critical environmental protections that prevent polluters from contaminating our air and harming our health. MassDEP is committed to ensuring everyone has equitable access to clean air."

The Consent Judgement, entered on December 17, 2025 by the Suffolk County Superior Court, follows a lawsuit filed by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) claiming that Feedback Earth, which used its facility to process food waste into animal feed, had been emitting noxious odors from its facilities that impacted residents in several surrounding communities. Residents as far as 4.4 miles away described an odor emitting from the facility so severe that many were forced to stay indoors, unable to open windows.

The AGO alleged that the odors were due, in part, to a pattern of environmental permit violations and unsanitary conditions at its facility despite ongoing enforcement efforts by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP). Residents also claimed that the company made it difficult to report odor violations by changing the number of the complaint reporting hotline, encouraging residents to make reports outside of the MassDEP-mandated hotline, and making unannounced visits to complainants’ homes.

On October 24, 2024, the AGO secured a preliminary injunction halting many of Feedback Earth’s illegal practices at the Grafton facility. The company has since decided to cease operation permanently.    

The matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Zeus Smith and Jillian Riley of AG Campbell’s Environmental Protection Division, with assistance from Environmental Analysts Randa Kallin and Michael Penny, Section Chief Thomas Hannah, and Deputy Regional Director John Volkerding of MassDEP’s Central Regional Office, and Anne Blackman and Rebecca Gobeil of MassDEP’s Office of General Counsel.

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