Published: NH Union Leader
Effective waste management is essential for all functioning societies. Remember the 14th-century bubonic plague? It’s a prime example of how a catastrophe can happen without a society devoting infrastructure and resources to effective waste management.
Under RSA 149-M (the Solid Waste Management Act or “SWMA”), the state of New Hampshire has codified laws to regulate the generation, reduction, and disposal of waste. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services publishes a biennial report that demonstrates - fairly extensively - the state of waste in New Hampshire. For trash nerds like me, it is a heap of thought-provoking data.
Disposal decline
Section two of the SWMA (RSA 149-M:2) prescribes waste disposal goals to discourage the unnecessary presence of recyclable materials in landfills and incinerators. By doing so, the state is essentially asking its citizenry, businesses and local governments to reduce municipal solid waste (“MSW”) and construction and demolition debris (“C&D”) disposal by 25% by 2030 and 45% by 2050, compared with 2018 tonnage totals.
As the statute makes clear, these goals “shall not establish a mandate.” In practice, this “goal approach” encourages constituents to divert waste without imposing a direct disposal ban.
The state’s 2023-24 Solid Waste Report tells us that the goal approach may be working. In 2024, MSW and C&D disposal was 13.2% below 2018 levels, notwithstanding a roughly 4% increase in the state’s population over that time. This result runs against the usual expectation that as populations grow, so too does waste generation.
Despite reductions in MSW and C&D disposal, the report surprisingly reveals a decline in recycling rates. The statewide recycling rate has fallen from about 21% in 2020 to 16.7% in 2024 — a notable trend in light of the SWMA’s implicit goal of preserving landfill and incinerator capacity. Interestingly, though, the decline in recycling rates did not undermine the progress in reducing disposal. This likely suggests a change in consumption behavior.
Waste capacity
New Hampshire is betting on continued waste diversion under the SWMA when it comes to permitting capacity. Right now, the report projects that the state’s current disposal capacity could fall short beginning in 2035 if no new capacity is permitted. Perhaps providing a planning warning, not a distant abstraction.
Potentially adding to the state’s future shortfall is the recently enacted House Bill 707, which Gov. Ayotte signed into law last month. The new law tightens permitting approval requirements for new landfill capacity, likely making expansion or replacement more costly.
With only about 32% of American household waste recycled or composted, potential solutions to increase waste diversion have been floated in Concord, including the concept of extended producer responsibility (EPR). EPR puts the onus of recycling on manufacturers and businesses. Currently, legislation on EPR in New Hampshire has not gained much traction.
Tracking the progress of RSA 149-M:2’s goals will be fascinating as questions inevitably will arise about future permitting of landfill capacity and as state lawmakers consider innovative policies to encourage waste diversion. The 2025-2026 Biennial Solid Waste Report can’t come soon enough.