“Ash is blowing around, it’s definitely getting wet and going into the marsh and it’s definitely getting into people’s lungs,” said Kirstie Pecci, Zero Waste Project director at the Conservation Law Foundation, which has been working with residents to stop the landfill expanding.
“It simply makes sense to wait until the permit appeals process is finished before allowing this landfill to accept more waste,” said Heidi Trimarco, Staff Attorney for CLF New Hampshire. “This final proposed stage of the Bethlehem landfill is not needed, and it undermines both the state’s waste reduction goal and requirements for reducing landfilling. It’s time we stop relying on endless landfill expansions and start protecting communities by recycling, composting, and reducing waste at the source.”
Hartford’s incinerator has been poisoning nearby communities for far too long. It’s time for the city to shut down this toxic facility and move towards innovative zero-waste solutions that aim to protect public health.
Portsmouth’s bold and important single-use ordinances were supported widely when approved a year ago. Immediate implementation of these ordinances presents an opportunity to get going with an initiative to reduce waste, save taxpayer money, and improve the health and wellbeing of our community and environment.
In true 2020 fashion, many families are having small-scale get-togethers or opting for virtual celebrations this Thanksgiving. With less people, that means being even more careful not to overbuy and waste food – because food waste can be terribly damaging to the environment. So let’s think about this for a second – what can you do to waste less food this Thanksgiving?
“Continuing to expand polluting landfills is the last thing New Hampshire needs,” said Tom Irwin, Vice President and Director of CLF New Hampshire. “The state got it right the first time when it determined there is no need for this landfill expansion. It’s time – at long last – for New Hampshire to make good on its policy of reducing waste, rather perpetuating its burial of it in landfills and putting our communities at risk.”
The City of Providence took a critical step in creating a zero-waste future and protecting its communities by banning trash incineration. The ban provides a model that other communities throughout the region can follow.
Recycling is confusing, but it doesn’t have to be. By holding Big Corporations responsible for the flood of single-use packaging they create, we can incentivize them to redesign their products and containers to be truly recyclable, or better yet, reusable.
Burning and burying our trash leads to carbon pollution. We need to phase out these old, polluting incinerators and landfills and replace them with zero-waste alternatives. By doing so, we can help lower climate-damaging emissions and protect our communities and the environment.
We don’t have good systems for dealing with our waste other than throwing a mix of toxic junk into our garbage cans. But we could. The truth is, it’s not a question of whether we should bury or burn our waste. What we should be asking is this: how do we produce less trash?
