“We estimate that if no new permitted landfill capacity comes online, we would start to see a shortfall by 2024,” said Mike Nork, Materials Management Supervisor at NHDES. The least expensive option was to send the city’s recyclables to be buried in a landfill, but the committee was hesitant about contributing to increasing concerns over statewide landfill capacities, an issue that the state Department of Environmental Services has been tracking closely in recent years. Photo/Amanda BouldinĪ pile of cardboard and other paper recyclables at the Dunbarton Road drop-off center. “Nobody liked the choices we had.” Sign with instructions at the Dunbarton Road drop-off center. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” said Stewart. The members of the Special Committee on Solid Waste Activities recognized that they were searching for the lesser of various evils. Incineration appeared to be the least-bad option for Manchester when a contract with Pinard Waste Systems was due to expire, according to the department. Located just off exit 17, the Wheelabrator power plant incinerates all types of waste-general household garbage as well as recyclables. “It’s essentially turned into steam, which then powers approximately 15,000 homes and businesses in New Hampshire,” said Newton. “Manchester recyclable materials now go to a waste-to-energy facility located in Concord,” said Newton. The Department of Public Works sought bids and found a solution-the Wheelabrator. Wheelabrator: Affordable option to recycling We can’t just look at these things strictly in isolation.” Stem billows from a stack at the Wheelabrator power plant in Concord. Resources are limited and we have a tax cap. “We always have to be balancing all of the interests across the city-teachers we could hire in city schools, more road miles that we could pave. “In that first year, we’re talking an extra $800,000,” said Stewart. With this contract expiring in 2020, Manchester stared down a nearly million-dollar increase to annual recycling costs. “They were getting a lot more stringent on what they would and would not accept.”Īs the world grappled with the financial impacts of China’s Operation National Sword, Manchester was insulated by a recycling contract with a fixed rate for recycling regardless of issues such as contamination. “At the time, communities across the country were grappling with a very big increased cost to recycle, based mainly on China,” explained Stewart. Ward 2 Alderman Will Stewart served as chair of the city’s Special Committee on Solid Waste Activities during this period. It’s a waste of time.’ Two people at my church have said the same thing.” When I told her, she said, ‘It doesn’t get recycled. This lady walked by and asked what I was doing. “One day I was going down into the garage to put my recycling in my car. However, curbside recycling pickup is not provided at the River Road apartment building Spenard moved into a few years ago-so she’s taken matters into her own hands by personally delivering her recycling to the Drop-Off Facility. She even brings her own containers to restaurants to avoid using styrofoam for leftovers. She keeps two metal straws in her pocketbook. “I can’t go to Hannaford to buy groceries without coming home with so much plastic,” she said.Ī passionate environmentalist, Spenard is cautious about what she buys at the store. MANCHESTER, NH – About once a month, Manchester resident Jackie Spenard gathers up several bags and boxes of recyclables, takes the elevator down to her apartment parking garage, and makes the six-minute drive to the Drop-Off Facility on Dunbarton Road. Jackie Spenard ready to take her recyclables to the city’s drop-off center, a trip she makes monthly.
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