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By TOM IRWIN

Tom Irwin is vice president and director of CLF New Hampshire. Each time we turn on the tap, we expect clean water. But in recent years, towns and cities across New Hampshire have discovered a dirty truth. Water in many communities has been tainted...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Every time Jolene Cochrane clocks in for her shift at the Hopkinton Transfer Station, she sees residents driving in with their household waste bagged in various colored trash bags.With 19 years of experience at the station — a few years longer than...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

As testimony on bills targeting landfill safety in New Hampshire continues in both chambers of the legislature, the state Department of Environmental Services maintains its stance against proposed legislation advocating for a four-year moratorium of...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Rochester is home to the largest landfill in New England, the Turnkey landfill, where more than half of the waste comes from out-of-state rather than from within New Hampshire.In 2023, the Turnkey landfill took in over 595,000 tons of out-of-state...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Owen Lanman and his friends stood guard near the color-coded bins in Maple Street school’s cafeteria, ensuring every student dumped their lunch leftovers into the appropriate receptacles designated for compost, recycling and landfill.“I like doing it...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Mattresses, feminine hygiene products, food packaging and several other everyday items with added forever chemicals, may face a potential ban as a bill prohibiting their sale and distribution in New Hampshire progresses forward to the House of...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Two bills addressing the import of out-of-state trash are heading to the House of Representatives with a positive recommendation, offering a solution toward alleviating the strain on the state’s landfill capacity.New Hampshire receives nearly half of...

By ELIOT WESSLER

Eliot Wessler lives in Whitefield and works with a number of grassroots organizations in NH’s North Country. Let’s start with the bad news: New Hampshire’s Department of Environmental Services (DES) has known for years that our state is awash in...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Tom Tower found the decision to privatize solid waste management in New Hampshire decades ago to be a logical choice. However, with the state’s sluggish pace in updating its plan to deal with its trash and the alarming influx of waste from neighboring...

By JOE SHORT

Joe Short is vice president of the Northern Forest Center. As the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) creates the newest iteration of the state’s Priority Climate Action Plan (PCAP), it must acknowledge and include the key role...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

The public might get a better understanding of what exactly is getting dumped in the state’s landfills and where it’s coming from, now that the Department of Environmental Services has initiated the first comprehensive study of the waste stream.Set to...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

A renewed push for a bottle bill is underway but with a twist – the responsibility of managing the recycling program will rest on the shoulders of beverage producers and distributors.Unlike previous attempts, this year’s bill, House Bill 1636,...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

A pizza box, a bag of chips and a soda can all have one thing in common – the “recycle” symbol printed on their packaging asking customers not to throw them away in the trash.But the reality is that dropping off these items at your local transfer...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

New Hampshire has become a dumping ground for out-of-state trash.But that could change during the upcoming legislative session as lawmakers try to slam the brakes on trucks bringing waste from beyond state borders.One bill takes on the Interstate...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

The symphony of vegetables inside the fermentation tanks at Micro Mama’s – cabbage, carrots, and beets to name a few — are much more than healthy condiments and side dishes.The products are all steeped in Stephanie Zydenbos and Samantha Cleveland’s...

By DAN WEEKS and SINDISO MNISI WEEKS

Dan Weeks and Dr. Sindiso Mnisi Weeks live in Nashua. Our children have a rambunctious streak. When their seemingly endless energy exceeds their not-so-endless judgment, things tend to break or get damaged.As parents, our job is to help them...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Proposed changes to the state’s environmental protection rules would increase the setbacks for landfills to be located no less than 500 feet from bodies of water, more than double the current 200-foot barrier. The Department of Environmental Services...

By JOHN GAGE

John Gage of Windham is volunteer NH state coordinator for Citizens’ Climate Lobby. The opinions expressed are his own and do not represent the position of CCL. When my daughter and I attended a hearing of the NH House Committee on State-Federal...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

The cost of cleaning up the PFAS-contaminated sludge at the Hopkinton-Webster transfer station and potentially relocating it off-site could cost the towns $13.8 million. The 52,000 tons of sludge containing “forever” chemicals at the transfer station...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Susi von Oettingen is always on the lookout for endangered species.Take her to a river, and she’ll look for mussels. Bring her to a wetland at dusk, and she’ll watch for bats in the sky. On a sandy beach, her focus shifts to scanning for plovers along...

By SRUTHI GOPALAKRISHNAN

Jacquelyn Elliot, a former Granite Stater now residing in Maine, is worried the state’s environmental agency is prioritizing private economic gain over public safety.“Waste is managed as a commodity which drives profits and incentivizes...