Just because something benefits “huge” corporations doesn’t mean it is bad for N.H., but Janet Ward and Jacquelyn Elliott offer little else in support of their contention that SB 381 is a bad bill.
The legislation passed in 2007 that banned the incineration of construction and demolition material was not wrong, but it was flawed. SB 381 would provide some relief from the flaw.
It is the policy of the state that incineration of trash, especially in waste-to-energy facilities such as the Wheelabrator incinerator in Concord, is preferred to disposing of it in landfills (RSA 149:M3). We do bury a lot of trash, but only because it is cheaper, in spite of being environmentally less sound.
Some of our current policies make no sense. We are allowed to throw all manner of objects into our household trash, including a wide variety of painted wooden objects, because the filters and scrubbers at the incinerator do a very good job of removing toxic materials from the exhaust. We can even dispose of entire cans of latex paint, provided they are completely dried out.
But let a load of painted (non-lead based) wood arrive at a transfer station, off it goes to the C&D container. That generally means it is headed to a landfill somewhere. There, in most landfills, it will slowly decompose and emit methane gas, thereby contributing to global warming.
SB 381 would allow for a more environmentally friendly way of disposing of some of our C&D waste, specifically burnable wood.
JOHN V. KJELLMAN
Henniker