New Hampshire’s recently released solid waste report shows incremental progress being made toward the state’s waste-disposal goals but highlights that more investment and education will be needed to meet them.
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) released its 2023-24 Solid Waste Report last month. The reports have been released every two years since the state set nonmandatory goals in 2018 of reducing municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition debris (C&D) by 25% in 2030 and 45% in 2050, as compared to 2018. Those voluntary goals were part of New Hampshire HB 413, which was signed into law in 2021.
The latest report found steps are being taken in the right direction, as the volume of MSW and C&D generated statewide has decreased 13.2% since 2018, to 1.3 million tons. Residents are throwing away less (0.75 tons per person per year in 2024, compared to 0.79 in 2022), while the state is accepting less out-of-state waste (61% of waste came from within New Hampshire in 2021, compared to 57% in 2022).
That’s despite a drop in the state’s estimated recycling rate, which went from 20.8% in 2020 to 16.7% in 2024. Regulators say a change in how the DES calculates that figure impacted the number.
The agency now uses municipal transfer station data as a general indicator for statewide activity, which likely underestimates commercial and industrial recycling that isn’t reported by municipalities.
“DES hopes to be able to collect better data in the future to produce more comprehensive estimates for recycling and other diversion activities,” the report said.
Diverting more waste is important because of limited disposal space. The state has one waste-to-energy incinerator in operation, as well as another with no resource recovery. Everything else goes to one of six landfills. One of them, North Country Environmental Services, could close before the end of 2026. All six could be full and closed by 2060 unless action is taken, the report found, as several plans relating to landfill space are in the works that regulators didn’t take into account due to their hypothetical nature.
Some actions have already been taken to mitigate this potential shortfall. HB 413 was one of several bills the state has passed in recent years to address environmental issues. Others have studied enacting extended producer responsibility (EPR) laws and banning products that contain intentionally added PFAS.
In 2022, New Hampshire joined other states that classify chemical recycling plants as manufacturing facilities rather than as waste management, with SB 367. A recent federal bill was proposed to supersede a “patchwork” of state-level laws addressing chemical recycling.
Other actions include:
● A law went into effect in February 2025 requiring entities creating a ton or more of food waste per week to divert material donation, composting or anaerobic digestion if facilities to accept these materials are located within 20 miles.
● A ban on disposing of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries in landfills or incinerators took effect in July 2025.
● A $572,000 federal grant will help the DES conduct the state’s first waste characterization study, a statewide food waste generator study and an infrastructure analysis. It will also fund recycling and waste-reduction education and outreach efforts.
The latter will be a focus as the state continues toward its goals, regulators said, because participation is ultimately voluntary. Education was the first of five major strategies outlined in an updated solid waste management plan (SWMP) the state finalized in 2022 to help accomplish those waste-management goals.
“While the DES has a major role in implementing the SWMP, its success depends on efforts from everyone in the state,” the report said. “Residents, municipalities, businesses in the public and private sectors, nonprofits and other stakeholders all play a role in carrying out the SWMP goals.”
In short, regulators say a change in the overall practices of everyone in the process is needed to keep the state’s goals on track.
“Continuing progress toward the disposal reduction goal will require substantive shifts in current waste-management practices toward more robust waste-reduction and diversion efforts,” the report said.
