New Hampshire is forming a new committee to study recycling streams and solid waste management. The legislature is taking on this issue as some communities have struggled to keep their recycling programs going.
The committee will have three representatives from the House and one from the Senate. Members of the committee will study the issue and propose legislation based on their findings.
Michael Nork is an Environmental Analyst at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. DES supported the bill. He says one of the main goals of the committee is to better understand how a changing market can influence local recycling plans.
“Towns are facing rising costs and in some cases have decided that it’s not worth paying for single stream recycling,” said Nork.
Nork says there are extra costs for recycling in New Hampshire, because there are no facilities that sort single stream recycling in the state.
“It all has to be shipped out of state,” said Nork. “So New Hampshire has arguably been hit harder than states like Massachusetts or Vermont that have these facilities. There isn’t a destination in state for those kinds of materials.”
The committee’s findings are due by Nov. 1.