[1][2] Bourne has its own municipal landfill and does not bring any waste to the station, but maintains its seat on the board of managers and contributes to the costs of running the facility in order to preserve its future participation options.
[3] The transfer station was built and opened in 1989[4] following the EPA's mandated closure of unlined landfills in the early 1980s, after which many Cape Cod communities signed agreements to send their municipal waste to SEMASS.
[2] The UCRTS, through consolidation of trash receipts, was intended to minimize the number of garbage trucks making round trips between their respective towns and SEMASS to conserve fuel, lower transportation costs, reduce vehicle exhaust pollution, and mitigate traffic congestion on and near the two bridges spanning the Cape Cod Canal.
[2] Massachusetts Coastal Railroad, a subsidiary of Iowa Pacific Holdings, is the rail service provider for the UCRTS[5] and is contracted by the four towns to transport a minimum of 40,000 combined tons of waste annually.
The Cape Cod Commission is exploring future means of trash disposal for all 15 towns within the district, including transport to out-of-state facilities, but most of the options under consideration would retain and perhaps expand use of the UCRTS.