Trash Problems In New Hampshire
In NH 60% of people rely on wells for their water supply. We are also one of the wettest states in the country square mile for square mile with all our lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and wet lands. We are not only burying OUR uninspected trash, but we also are burying trash from other states as well. In fact about 55% of the trash that we bury is from out of state. As we learned from the terrible PFA outbreak in the Merrimack area, it is dangerous, and now we learn that in the Bethlehem area of the state more PFAS have shown up in people’s wells.
We as elected representatives of the state, at the very least, should TRY to fix these problems. It is my opinion that we need to do the following:
- Stop all out of state trash coming into our state. NH is a state that is too wet for the volume of our own trash, let alone trash from other states .My guess is that all future landfills will have to be owned by the state of NH. Existing landfills will continue to operate until their permits run out.
- Businesses that are disposing of dangerous chemicals should bear the brunt of the costs of treating these chemicals, so they are no longer harmful to our citizens.
- We must also consider not burying whole or untreated trash, because it contains all sorts of diseases that we do not want in our drinking water. I believe that all our trash should be burned to kill all bacteria for safety purposes. The state, or private enterprises should construct three or four burn centers around the state and burn all trash before it is buried. These burn centers should also have after burners in the chimneys to ensure that bacteria don’t escape into the air and cause further problems.
- After reducing all of our trash to ashes we may find it easier and cheaper to ship the remains out of state into some other state that doesn’t have our water problems. I understand that some of our trash is already being shipped to Alabama.
- I understand that all the sludge from our sewerage treatment plants is being dumped into our landfill areas. I wonder how safe that practice is? Couldn’t we dry that sludge out and burn it?
- What about recycling? We know that there over one million life forms on this planet, and only one of them is a polluter. Guess which one? We definitely need more recycling and I would like to see our transfer stations have at least a 2500 sq. ft building for recycling/swapping. It could be run by all the local charities.
- Recycling plastic: I understand that there is a market for clear plastic, and no current market for colored plastic. It is estimated that there are one million tons of plastic in our oceans. What if every transfer station were equipped with chipper that could reduce all remaining plastic to chips and put into four foot by four foot boxes, and later ship it to a facility that could melt it down molded into 4’x4’ inter locking blocks and saved for the future when we run out of oil, but still need plastic for making many things.
Well I won’t go on and on, but I hope someone can expand on my ideas and bring real change for this wonderful state of New Hampshire Representative Jim Fedolfi, Hillsboro District 30.