A bill to study the amount of out-of-state waste entering the Granite State will now head to Gov. Chris Sununu鈥檚 desk after passing both the House and Senate by a voice vote.聽The House passed Senate Bill 159, which will establish a committee to investigate the relationship between out-of-state solid waste and unlimited service area permits for landfills.聽An unlimited service area landfill is permitted to accept waste from any source, including those out of state. A limited service area landfill can accept trash only from certain geographical areas, such as counties or municipalities.
According to Sen. Donovan Fenton, the Keene Democrat who introduced the bill, 鈥淸its] purpose is to prohibit the Department of Environmental Services from issuing any future unlimited service area landfill permits.鈥澛燦ew Hampshire has three municipal solid waste landfills with unlimited service areas: North Country Environmental Services (NCES) in Bethlehem, the Mount Carberry Secure Landfill in Success, and the Turnkey Landfill in Rochester.
Waste Management operates the Turnkey Landfill. During the Northeast Resource Recovery Association鈥檚 annual conference, Director of Disposal Operations Steve Poggi said because of diminished waste capacity in Connecticut and Massachusetts, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a lot of material that鈥檚 getting on trains to New York, Ohio, Alabama, Indiana. We鈥檙e getting requests to take more out-of-state waste. There鈥檚 a need south of the border.鈥�