CONCORD – New Hampshire’s Waste Management Council has again agreed with Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) that the permit to expand Casella’s Bethlehem landfill is invalid. The council reached this decision in May, which Casella challenged and lost this week.
“We’ll say it again: there is simply no need for this landfill,” said CLF staff attorney Heidi Trimarco. “The Waste Management Council has made it clear yet again that the state cannot permit new landfills that aren’t needed to satisfy New Hampshire’s disposal needs. It’s time for Casella to give up this fight and be a partner in reducing waste through recycling and composting.”
Casella Waste Systems subsidiary North Country Environmental Services owns the landfill.
CLF previously challenged the Department of Environmental Services’ permit decision authorizing the landfill to operate for six years, and the Waste Management Council agreed in May.
Approximately half of the waste disposed of in New Hampshire landfills comes from out of state. NH should do more to reduce the materials sent to landfills. Building unneeded landfills simply allows more out-of-state waste to be trucked into New Hampshire for the benefit of private waste companies and to the detriment of local communities. CLF has been actively pushing state regulators to advance New Hampshire’s solid waste management hierarchy, which favors waste reduction and recycling and ranks landfilling as the least preferable option.