More than $23 million worth of recyclable materials were thrown away in New Hampshire’s disposal sites last year, according to a new study released on Friday that highlights a significant gap in the state’s waste management practices.

The 2024 Waste Characterization Study conducted by MSW Consultants for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services provides a detailed look at the contents of the state’s landfills and incinerators. Its findings paint a stark picture: Tons of valuable recyclables, such as cardboard, metals, plastics and other recoverable materials, are being discarded instead of being reused.

Last year, municipal solid waste (MSW) facilities statewide received over 73,000 tons of recyclable paper, including cardboard, and 56,174 tons of recyclable containers, like glass bottles, were sent to landfills and incinerators instead of being recycled.

Bonnie Christie, a member of Hopkinton’s Solid Waste Reduction Committee, said she was stunned to see how many recyclables were being tossed away.

“I think if people knew the dollar value of what we are tossing in the hopper, they would go, ‘Whoa! We can do so much better,’ ” said Christie after DES presented the results of the study at a recycling conference in Concord on Monday. “It’s crazy. It blows my mind. You might as well throw dollar bills.”

The impact of improperly discarded recyclables isn’t limited to the money: The more waste is disposed of in landfills, the more greenhouse gases it produces.

When waste is dumped or burned, it releases greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. If all those materials had been properly recycled, it could have reduced carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to what 91,918 gasoline-powered cars produce in a single year. These estimations are based on the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas conversion calculator.

Michael Nork, a materials management supervisor with the agency’s solid waste division, pointed out that estimates of discarded recyclables may be slightly overstated, as the materials could be mixed or contaminated with dirt, grit or moisture, increasing their weight.

Nork also acknowledged that while the study highlights significant missed opportunities in recycling, there is some debate over the recyclability of certain materials.

“There’s definitely a lot of room for improvement here. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to do a waste characterization study,” said Norke. “How much do we think was potentially divertible versus realistically divertible?”

Recycling gaps

The study, funded through a Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant, involves manually sorting through trash, interviewing individuals at disposal sites such as landfills, incinerators and transfer stations and visually surveying construction and demolition debris.

Researchers focused exclusively on waste generated within New Hampshire and did not account for the nearly 50% of waste disposed of in New Hampshire’s facilities that comes from out of state.

Nork said that, while there hasn’t been a formal study on recyclables coming from other states, he believes it’s unlikely that large amounts of recyclable materials are being buried in New Hampshire landfills from out-of-state sources.

“I think there’s a lot more recycling happening in other states than there might be in New Hampshire, because we are a state that does not have mandatory recycling,” said Nork. “A lot of states that send waste to New Hampshire have other requirements in place. They may have mandatory recycling or [Association of Plastic Recyclers] programs, so the waste streams coming from out of state may not mirror exactly what we’re seeing in New Hampshire.”

Cardboard, one of the easiest materials to recycle, still makes up just over 7% of discarded waste from businesses, industries and large institutions like hospitals and schools.

Many big-box retailers and grocery stores have systems in place to recycle much of their cardboard, but mid-sized and smaller commercial operations lack the infrastructure to manage a separate collection.

“It actually costs them, not only the charge for hauling MSW, like they normally do, but they might have to get another compactor for cardboard and pay hauling fees for that,” said Nork. “So there are challenges in some of the systems in terms of being able to effectively collect that and do it economically.”

While small businesses often face economic challenges in prioritizing recycling, transfer stations also see issues with improper disposal, as residents frequently dump recyclables along with non-recyclables.

Christie noted that on any given day at the Hopkinton transfer station, recyclables are mixed in with regular trash, despite clear signage explaining how to recycle properly.

“I think a lot of times it’s a convenience and feeling like it’s consuming,” said Christie. “Let’s be part of saving money and generating revenue instead of expenses.”

Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com. Subscribe to her Trash Talk newsletter for more reporting on the environment and solid waste.