SOLID WASTE
On Aug. 31 three members of Casella Waste Systems Inc. presented an update to town officials on the status of the proposed state-of-the-art landfill off of Route 116 on the outskirts of Dalton.
Among other updates, the Casella team informed the board of two significant milestones as the project moves forward:
• The Casella permitting team has filed a comprehensive wetlands application for review by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. The application for a wetlands permit is the first of many review processes the project will be subjected to, and Casella will be working closely with NHDES as the process unfolds.
• Casella presented a draft host community agreement to the board for their review, outlining the business relationship between Casella and Dalton. It includes all of the legally binding parameters of the relationship between the town and Casella. The HCA is dependent on approval of the project by the NHDES.
Because landfills are difficult to site, costly to permit and construct, and in many cases met with fear-based and uninformed opposition, it is critical that these facilities are developed well in advance of expected capacity shortfalls.
In addition to timely development, we aim to pursue this project in a transparent and collaborative manner, while also creating shared economic and environmental value.
The landfill will bring significant benefits to Dalton, the North Country and the state. It will be designed to anchor an integrated waste and resource management system in which a majority of the waste accepted will originate from more than 50,000 households and 5,500 businesses located in the 150 cities and towns throughout New Hampshire. Currently, this waste is disposed at the NCES landfill in Bethlehem, while recyclables are exported to facilities in Vermont and Massachusetts.
The need for additional disposal capacity is made abundantly clear by NHDES in its biennial report. There is no permitted waste capacity in the state past 2034. If the additional capacity provided by this project is not permitted, it is estimated that it will cost the New Hampshire communities that currently rely on the NCES landfill more than $3.5 million in additional disposal and transportation costs annually.
With the successful permitting of this long-term capacity for New Hampshire’s waste, we will also seek to develop a materials recovery facility in the central part of the state, which would allow for the state’s recyclables to be processed in-state, reducing costs and, in turn, improving the state’s recycling rates and carbon reduction goals.
This integrated development project is expected to create an additional 68 jobs statewide, add an additional $20 million to the state’s economy each year and reduce the state’s overall carbon emissions by more than 29,000 metric tons, which is the equivalent of removing more than 6,000 cars from New Hampshire roads annually.
The positive economic and environmental benefits over the projected 38-year life of the 137-acre landfill would approach $1 billion and the removal of over 1 million metric tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
The local and statewide benefits of this project are clear, as are the science and facts around the modern landfills of today. Our goal is to continue to provide this information directly to the public in support of a transparent and collaborative process based in fact rather than fear-based opposition.
John W. Casella is chair and CEO of Casella Waste Systems.