A long-overdue update to New Hampshire’s solid waste management plan has been released by the Department of Environmental Services. It revises a plan that was nearly two decades old. The plan outlines how the state will reduce waste that goes into landfills and incinerators 25% by 2030 and 45% by 2050 – goals that are set in state law. It’s focused on reducing the quantity of trash generated, reducing the toxicity of the trash, maximizing waste diversion tactics like recycling and composting, developing local markets for those industries, and ensuring New Hampshire has enough room for its own trash.
Many of the updated goals echo the state’s most recent solid waste plan, published in 2003. But for the first time, the plan includes sections on climate change and environmental justice. Rep. Karen Ebel, the chair of the Solid Waste Working Group, which helped state regulators develop the plan, said the plan was a roadmap to make progress on solid waste in New Hampshire. “It really calls out the fact that we’ve done a poor job in fulfilling the mission of the state to do far less landfilling and a lot more reuse and recycling,” she said.
Granite Staters are paying more attention to waste issues, Ebel noted, saying the state should move forward by supporting towns and businesses in implementing the plan. But it’s difficult to do that without a sustainable source of money. The plan dedicates a whole section to securing that funding. “We can’t just rely on federal grants if we’re going to be doing better with this,” she said. “We’re going to have to tighten our belts a little bit.”