NASHUA – At the same time city leaders need to appropriate $120,000 to keep the recycling program going, they also want to expand the Four Hills Landfill at a cost of $6 million.
“If Phase Three doesn’t get built, we’re going to run out of space within a year,”Nashua Alderman Ernest Jette said of the landfill during the city ‘s Monday Budget Review Committee meeting. “So, Phase Three will give us another 10 years, and we’re asking for a permit for Phase Four, which would give us some additional time, but, it’s all finite.”
“It’s not just a Nashua problem; it’s a nationwide problem,” Alderwoman Shoshanna Kelly added of the city’s issues with waste.
Committee members passed Resolution 19-115, recommending the full Board of Aldermen vote to appropriate the necessary funds to continue shipping out single-stream recycling for the remainder of fiscal year 2019 at a cost of $120,000.
Alderman Richard Dowd said the biggest issue is that China is not taking as much back, and that it has been more difficult and expensive to do the separation of single stream.
During the March 12 Board of Aldermen meeting, officials from the city’s Solid Waste Department made a plea for funding to get them through FY19, which ends June 30. Resolution 19-115 would do just that at a cost of $120,000.
“They had the additional revenue within their own budget to cover it, so this is authorizing them to expend that additional $120,000 out of their budget to cover recycling,” Dowd said during the Monday meeting.
Dowd said these funds are needed so that recycling does not end up being dumped into the landfill, taking up valuable space that, through time, will become full.
Another measure, Resolution 19-114, would authorize city officials to issue bonds not to exceed the amount of $6 million for the Phase Three lined landfill expansion of the Nashua Four Hills Landfill, to include engineering services. A public hearing regarding this resolution is set for 7 p.m. March 25 in the Aldermanic Chamber at City Hall, 229 Main St.
Jette acknowledged residents throughout the city have already invested and committed to recycling their products by getting into the habit of using tote bags and things of that nature. He said to tell them that the city is going to take their recycling and put it in the landfill is going to cause a lot of people to stop doing it and throw their recyclables in the garbage.
Then, once the situation is resolved, they will have to somehow convert the residents back into the habit of recycling.
Jette said last year, the Board of Public Works developed a recycling subcommittee to look at the amounts paid to have the recyclables removed by Casella Waste Systems, which is the company with whom the city has a long-term contract. He said the company’s rates vary, depending on what they can do with the materials.
However, one thing done already is the investment in a fabric tarp that covers the recyclables from the elements. It looks like a large tent, and covers the recycling area from getting wet from rain or snow.
If the material gets wet, it gets heavier. This means it costs more to have it hauled out of the city.
Keeping the recyclable material dry has yielded a significant reduction in the weight of the material, although the rates have continued to vary. Jette said last year, the rate was less than $60 a ton, but it is now up to more than $80 a ton.
“There was $400,000 that was allocated for this that they’re about to run out of, and that’s why they’re asking for the extra $120,000,” Jette said.
However, Alderman Ben Clemons said officials should consider issuing a request for proposals (RFP) to ask a startup company if there is a chance it would simply take the city’s recyclable material for free.
“We have to think of something because the landfill is a precious value resource that not a lot of other communities have,” Clemons said. “The longer that we can keep it from filling up, the better off Nashua will be. I think we need to really take some bold steps and kind of be a leader on this, as a opposed to sitting back and waiting for the market to figure it out.”