Stories
N.H. lawmakers consider bill that would stop new landfills, for now
New Hampshire legislators are considering a bill that would prohibit the Department of Environmental Services from issuing new permits for landfills until they revise the state’s solid waste plan. Controversial landfill expansions, lack of leadership The state’s solid waste plan is supposed to be updated every six years, but the most recent plan is from 2003. Rep. Linda…
Read MoreTrash is a burning question with mixed answers in some Mass. towns
Editor’s note: This is the first of two stories about the state of trash incinerators in Massachusetts. The first thing you notice in the warehouse at the Haverhill incinerator is the giant mechanical claw. It moves across the ceiling and drops into the second thing you notice: a pit of trash, 30 feet deep. The…
Read MoreSome New Hampshire towns are making more money on recycling than in previous years. What’s changed?
The transfer station in Derry, N.H., is full of neatly organized piles of everything residents don’t want. Old couches, discarded Halloween decorations, and tidy mounds of plastic, cardboard, glass, and aluminum. Mike Fowler, the director of public works for the town of Derry, says it wasn’t always this way. In 1991, the town passed an…
Read MoreTech tested on Cape Cod could track backyard septic-system pollution
Nitrogen from septic systems has been disrupting local waterways for years, causing fish kills and blooms of toxic algae. Now, field testing on Cape Cod is playing a national role in the development of technology to monitor nitrogen — even in individual backyards — as a step toward keeping the excess out of our waters.…
Read MoreNearly 50,000 people live within two miles of a major trash incinerator in Hartford. In a few months, that garbage plant is slated to close. And as officials decide what’s next for the key piece of riverfront land, debate is focusing on a decades-old issue: environmental justice. Think of environmental justice as environmentalism meets civil…
Read MoreOn a recent day, a steady stream of aluminum cans move down the assembly line at Lamplighter Brewery in Cambridge, Mass., being filled with a New England Style IPA. The cans move to their last stop: a device that presses plastic toppers onto four cans at a time. Standing next to the assembly line is…
Read MorePandemic helps push up mattress recycling in Connecticut
A representative with Connecticut’s mattress recycling program believes the pandemic is part of the reason more people are choosing to recycle their old beds in the state. Daniel McGowan, with the Mattress Recycling Council, told a coalition of state recycling leaders Tuesday that the number of old mattresses recycled in Connecticut was up 12% from…
Read More‘Pay As You Throw’: New Pricing For Garbage Could Be Coming To More Cities And Towns
Cities and towns across Connecticut are applying for millions of dollars in state aid to help them reduce the amount of trash residents put out on the curb. The push for funding comes as price pressures for waste disposal continue to mount, spurred by the imminent closure of a major trash plant in Hartford next…
Read MoreAs MIRA Closure Draws Near, Hartford Seeks Alternatives For Its Trash
The city of Hartford is looking for a new company to handle its trash and recycling. The search comes as a major trash plant that takes in around one-quarter of the state’s garbage is slated to close. The Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA) says it will close its trash-to-energy plant next year, citing financial…
Read MoreNew State Incentive Commits $5 Million To Connecticut’s Looming Waste Crisis
With less than a year to go before a major trash plant in Hartford is scheduled to close, officials are scrambling to figure out what to do with hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage a year. Katie Dykes, head of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said she’s optimistic that a new $5…
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