Brian Patnoe, who runs the transfer station in Lancaster, is tired of seeing materials that could be reused or recycled end up in a landfill because the North Country lacks a recycling facility to process them. “In Coos County, we really don’t have a lot of infrastructure for recycling,” said Patnoe. “One of the biggest things I see going into the landfill is construction and demolition debris. All of the facilities to recycle it are in the southern part of the state.” And driving to the southern part of the state is too far, too costly, and generates too much greenhouse gas emissions to be worth it, Patnoe said. Education is another problem: People don’t know how to reuse or recycle these materials.
A new $375 million federal grant program is intended to help the state purchase recycling infrastructure and fund outreach and educational programs to improve recycling and reduce waste. The Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement in June of the new federal assistance comes as state discussions around solid waste are gaining momentum. After neglecting to update the solid waste plan for 13 years, the state is currently drafting a new version. A draft was released in May, and the finalized plan is due Oct. 1. “Considering how much attention is being paid to solid waste and recycling issues in New Hampshire these days, this funding comes at a really great time for New Hampshire,” said Reagan Bissonnette, executive director of Northeast Resource Recovery Association, a nonprofit that helps municipalities recycle.
Bissonnette is working with Patnoe on another grant that would create a pilot program to keep construction and demolition debris out of landfills by promoting recycling and reuse. They argued that the program is needed in the North Country because it lacks access to recycling, and the region deserves attention considering other environmental concerns that have largely gone unaddressed. It’s one of the worst parts of the state when it comes to how much diesel particulate matter is in the air, ranking in the 91st percentile statewide, according to the EPA’s Environmental Justice Index. And it’s a part of the state where residents are most likely to be exposed to hazardous waste: Coos County ranks in the 92nd percentile for proximity to hazardous waste.