Leaves & yard waste policy

Although the ban on burning leaves and yard waste at the waster-to-energy facility in Penacook has been lifted, Director of Public Works Paul Moynihan said yesterday that the Solid Waste Committee "intends not to allow leaves and yard waste as part of the regular curbside collection of household waste".

In May the Department of Public Works (DPW) advised residents that, apart from specially scheduled times in the spring and fall, leaves and yard waste would no longer be picked up on regular collection days. Instead, residents were told to take their bagged leaves and yard waste to the transfer station on Meredith Center Road, where it would be composted.

The change of policy was in response to the decision by Wheelabrator, which operates the waste-to-energy plant in serving Laconia and the 26 other members of the Concord Regional Solid Waste Resource Recovery Cooperative (Concord Co-op), to no longer accept leaves and yard waste in order to comply with state law.

The law (RSA 149-M:27), adopted by the Legislature in 1992, forbids the disposal or incineration of leaves and yard waste in either a solid waste land landfill or a waste-to-energy facility.

The Legislature sought to save scarce space in landfills for materials that are neither bio-degradable nor recyclable as well as to reduce the levels of pollutants, including toxins and carcinogens, emitted by incinerators. However, the bill included an exemption for municipalities, like the members of the Concord Co-op, that entered solid waste contracts prior to January 1, 1993, if compliance "would cause the municipality to violate or incur penalties under legal obligations."

The Concord Co-op signed its 20-year contract with Wheelabrator in 1989. Until the past several years members of the cooperative would incurred penalties for failing to meet the annual tonnage guaranteed under the contract had leaves and yard waste not been included. When Wheelabrator declared that it would no longer accept leaves and yard waste at the incinerator, Senator Sylvia Larsen (D-Concord) sponsored legislation that reaffirmed the original exemption for members of the Concord Co-op, including Laconia, and extended it until 2009, when the contract with Wheelabrator expires.

Nevertheless, Moynihan said that the Laconia Solid Waste Committee preferred to continue refusing to collect leaves and yard waste on regular collection days. The committee consists of Moynihan, former Director of DPW Frank Tilton, Purchasing Agent Jonathan Gardner, City Councilor Judy Krahulec (Ward 1) and Sheldon Morgan, Director of Public Works in Gilford.

The committee, Moynihan explained, had environmental and economic major reasons for its decision. "Environmentally it makes good sense," he said. "The solid waste industry is discouraging using the limited space in landfills for yard waste that decomposes." At the same time, he acknowledged that the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES) has had long-standing concerns about the emissions from incinerating leaves and yard waste.

"The cost is also significant," Moynihan added, noting that the cost of solid waste services will rise under a new contract with Waste Management, Inc. "It will be $55.50 a ton to collect it at the curbside, $13.60 to take it to the incinerator and $40 to burn it," he said. "That's almost $110 a ton." Ann Saltmarsh said that this spring alone 79.03 tons of leaves and yard waste was collected.

"This is what we should be doing," Moynihan said. He explained that the new 12-year contract for solid waste services with Waste Management, Inc., negotiated by the Solid Waste Committee and approved by the City Council last night, included between $800,000 and $1.5 million worth of improvements to the transfer station as part of an effort to increase recycling. The cost of the project will be shared with Laconia contributing 34 percent, Gilford 13 percent and Waste Management 53 percent. In particular, Moynihan said that making the compost area, where leaves and yard waste are deposited, more convenient and accessible would be a major feature of the improvements.