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9/26/23

The 2023 legislative session is complete. Here is a list of the House and Senate bills related to solid waste management and recycling in New Hampshire, as well as the outcome of the bills by the end of the session.

For updates on the current legislative session, please refer to our Policy and Legislation Page.

2023 Legislation 2023 House and Senate Bills SB159 : Relative to permits for the siting of new landfills. Sponsors: (Prime) Senator Donovan Fenton Passed House and Senate, Signed by Governor on 6/20/2023 SB211 : Relative to background investigations of solid waste and hazardous waste facility permit applicants. Sponsors: (Prime) Senator Howard Pearl Passed House and Senate, Signed by Governor on 6/20/2023 HB 253 : Establishing a committee to study extended producer responsibility. Sponsors: (Prime)Representative Lucius Parshall Passed both...Read more
9/19/23
Over the past year, NRRA has been working on an EPA Healthy Communities grant focused on increasing construction and demolition (C&D) diversion in Coös County, NH. During that time, we have held 3 C&D Summit Roundtables in Lancaster, NH; provided technical assistance to 3 case study communities ; helped to set up a successful C&D diversion pilot program in Lancaster, NH; and have visited 14 Coös County facilities with an eye to C&D management.

By visiting individual transfer stations, NRRA is able to pull together different C&D challenges and opportunities that are unique to Coös County.

There are no local C&D recycling facilities in Coös County. The closest C&D recycling facilities are in southern New Hampshire and western Vermont, which is prohibitively far from Coös County. Because of this, C&D debris is primarily landfilled, with some facilities separating wood to be chipped and used as...Read more

9/19/23
On September 8, NRRA executive director, Reagan Bissonnette, had the opportunity to speak at the Southern New Hampshire Planning Commission (SNHPC) Annual Meeting at the Derryfield Restaurant in Manchester, NH. The theme of the night was Sustainability ; Reagan was invited as one of four speakers on the topic. Reagan began by talking about recycling and solid waste management in New Hampshire, highlighting tools for communities to strengthen their recycling programs, including grant opportunities and resources to educate residents about the economic and environmental value of recycling and waste reduction. Twelve of the fourteen towns that are members of SNHPC are also members of NRRA, including Weare and Hooksett. To demonstrate that recycling really works, Reagan shared the environmental impact reports for Weare and Hooksett. She then explained where each of their commodities went, whether to a company in New Hampshire, New...Read more
9/15/23
Thank you for your interest - the 2023 Bus Tour is currently full and registration is closed. We are excited to announce the schedule for this year's annual Fall Bus Tour happening Wednesday, October 18 from 7:45am to 4:00pm. This year, we will be hopping on a luxury tour bus and visiting 3 locations: the Waste Management Turnkey Landfill; the electronics recycler, Universal Recycling Technologies (URT); and the Lee, NH Transfer Station. At each location, participants will get to tour the facility or location, ask questions, and connect with fellow operators.

This is a great opportunity to see where some towns' municipal solid waste (MSW) ends up and how a landfill is run. For those who came to the NRRA Annual Recycling Conference, you may have attended the popular workshop run by URT, so this is a great chance to see electronics recycling in action! And finally, touring a...Read more

8/30/23

Have you ever wondered about the process to plan and update a transfer station? Well, NRRA municipal member town, Swanzey, NH, has been documenting their Recycling Center building project construction on their town website and Facebook page, as well as physical postings at the facility. Their consistent updates help to increase resident education and maintain public support by inviting residents to learn more about the improvements, including the planning, process photos, and how the updated Center will provide environmental and economically sound benefits to the entire town.

The planning process took several years - starting prior to the COVID pandemic - and involved all stakeholders, including several conversations with NRRA's Member Services. The completed Recycling Center update will include 3 lanes for traffic - a "trailer lane" for elderly or disabled residents, or residents with a large amount of recyclables or non-sorted recyclables; a "fast...Read more

8/30/23
Executive Director, Reagan Bissonnette, and Member Services Manager, Brian Patnoe, had a great trip to the Resource Recycling Conference in Orlando, Florida. It was a whirlwind trip, as they were in Orlando for less than 48 hours, but they really made the most of their time! Connecting in person with people and learning from them was the most valuable part of the conference, followed by the formal educational workshops. Being able to connect with industry colleagues while learning about big-picture challenges and solutions in the field of recycling and solid waste diversion allows our organization to better inform our members. It's also important that we are able to share the realities of recycling in small, rural communities such as those found in New Hampshire. There were very few attendees from the northeast, so Reagan and Brian made a point to connect with Jen Heaton-Jones and Rick Watson from CT and...Read more
8/15/23
The August meeting of the Solid Waste Working Group (SWWG) was a full one touching on NHDES grants, composting food waste, the challenges to consistent and safe disposal of lithium-ion batteries, the Solid Waste Management Plan, and extended producer responsibility. The NH Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) will be issuing grants for food waste and other waste reduction in the coming year. NHDES has a goal to solicit grant applications after establishing the rules for the program in the summer of 2024. These grants will be available to municipalities, businesses, and nonprofits for education and infrastructure. With the change to composting regulations in April of 2022 , more municipalities are looking to compost food waste. NRRA will be working to create a "template" model for how municipalities can compost food waste on site. In addition, the group discussed the importance of getting businesses...Read more
8/8/23

The Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) is pleased to announce the release of our 2022 Annual Report .

When executive director, Reagan Bissonnette, joined this organization in June 2019, little did she know that it would be three years before we would hold our conference in person once again, so it's no surprise that gathering together in person in 2022 had the feeling of a reunion among friends. The conference theme, “What’s Next: Rethinking Resource Recovery” emphasized the need for us to rethink the future of solid waste and waste reduction and reset following the pandemic and China’s National Sword policy.

While 2022 may have been a time when many felt discouraged by local or global events and politics, we are proud to say that whether you care about the environment, whether you care about...Read more

7/31/23

We are excited to announce that Josh Whipple, the Solid Waste Manager for the Town of Swanzey Recycling Center and NRRA Board Member - has joined the New Hampshire Solid Waste Working Group (SWWG) . Josh has been a solid waste operator since 2011 in the town of Swanzey, a rural NH community with a strong, resident-driven source separated recycling program.

The Solid Waste Working Group's responsibilities include reviewing and making changes to the state's solid waste reduction, recycling, and management policies, programs, goals, and initiatives.

Josh will be acting as the SWWG representative for rural communities that source separate recycling . Josh will bring the important perspective of how materials - both recyclables and MSW - are managed on a "smaller" scale, including considerations for small communities, and what has (and has not) been successful.

Josh understands...Read more

7/17/23

If you're an NRRA Member (or a supporter of our work) you know our main focus is partnering to make recycling strong through economic and environmentally sound solutions. For example, last year we assisted our 441 members in recycling and managing over 81.5 million pounds of material and returned nearly $3 million net revenue to our members from the sale of their recyclables. Such efforts resulted in 207 million pounds of avoided carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to removing 20,392 passenger cars from the road for an entire year.

We also pride ourselves in walking the walk, taking steps within our organization to minimize our environmental impact through economically sound practices.

Since 2006, we have owned our own 10,000 square foot two-story office building that serves as our headquarters in Epsom, NH. NRRA uses the first floor of the building for our staff of eleven, and...Read more

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