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As Bethlehem scrambles to move into a new phase at the end of this year, some long-running debates are again taking center stage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tough. It\u2019s a sore subject. It\u2019s been a sore subject for a lot of years,\u201d said select board member Casey MacDonald, speaking Tuesday night outside the Bethlehem Public Library on Main Street. \u201cAnd now, it\u2019s like, oh, we\u2019re here \u2014 but we\u2019re not quite there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Casella Waste Services announced<\/a> at the beginning of October that Dec. 31 would be the last day the landfill accepts municipal solid waste.<\/p>\n That is earlier than the company\u2019s previous estimates. As recently as this summer, town officials heard estimated closing dates in 2027 from Casella, Bethlehem Select Board member Nancy Strand said in a phone interview Wednesday. Casella Vice President of Communications Jeff Weld said in a Wednesday email that the company had been discussing closure timeframes with community representatives for the past year.<\/p>\n The announcement wasn\u2019t too much of a surprise, Strand and other officials said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a shock, but we knew it was going to happen eventually,\u201d said MacDonald.<\/p>\n Once the landfill reaches capacity, Casella must follow a closure protocol followed by ongoing environmental monitoring at the site. <\/p>\n When the landfill is no longer accepting waste, the agreement that requires Casella to retrieve residents\u2019 trash will no longer be active, Strand and Weld said. Weld also identified annual fees paid to the town, \u201ccommunity donations,\u201d and an annual household hazardous waste drop-off day as among the other Casella-run programs that would end at that time. Casella also expects the amount of property taxes paid to the town to drop, he added.<\/p>\n The immediate result of the end of curbside pickup and residential waste drop-off at the landfill, Strand said, is that Bethlehem will need a plan in place to collect and sort waste, then transport it to another facility for final disposition.<\/p>\n That\u2019s where the Transfer Station Committee comes in.<\/p>\n Transfer station dreaming<\/p>\n The Bethlehem Transfer Station Committee envisions a future municipal waste collection station for a town-owned parcel on Route 116.<\/p>\n Unlike most towns, with established procedures for dealing with their solid waste, Strand views Bethlehem as facing an opportunity to start \u201cfrom scratch.\u201d She hopes the facility will provide benefits to the community that go beyond fulfilling their responsibility to shepherd waste to a landfill.<\/p>\n \u201cWe, as a small town, can, I believe, create a really kick-ass transfer station,\u201d she said at a June meeting of the Transfer Station Committee.<\/p>\n At the transfer station, the standard collection, sorting, and sendoff of trash and recycling would be a given, the committee said. (Trash will be sent to the Mount Carberry landfill in Berlin.) Other features outlined for the site include a food waste collection system, to enable residents to compost and reduce the waste that must be sent to a landfill, as well as a \u201cfree store,\u201d where residents can exchange items they no longer want but that are not necessarily ready for the landfill. <\/p>\n The station will cost about $1 million, according to the committee. Residents have funded a capital reserve account with about $300,000 for the project. The remainder of the cost, the committee and select board say, will come from a federal grant in the form of congressionally directed spending from Senator Jeanne Shaheen, with about $750,000 earmarked for the project.<\/p>\n But the process of the grant\u2019s release to the town has been slow. MacDonald said the funds were dependent on permitting reviews by the US Department of Agriculture, which is administering the funds.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Strand said communications earlier this week from the USDA indicated the town would get the \u201cgreen light\u201d in the coming weeks. That would clear the town\u2019s engineering firm, Concord-based Aries Engineering, to begin work on the site and issue requests for proposals for the structural work. <\/p>\n But with funds not yet available to the town, and the Casella landfill\u2019s closure likely happening sooner than planned, Bethlehem must find a way to fill the gap. Strand estimated that the permanent transfer station would be ready in summer or fall 2027; in the meantime, the town plans to operate a temporary transfer station at the town garage, with rolling dumpsters collecting materials for transport.<\/p>\n Funding these measures is another challenge. The Transfer Station Committee has recommended implementing a pay-as-you-throw system, in which residents must purchase specially marked trash bags to dispose of waste, to help fund the trash management system going forward. But all the same, taking on the town\u2019s trash will have a budget impact, Strand said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have to pay the tipping fees at Mount Carberry, we have to invest in the pay-as-you-throw bags,\u201d she said. Other costs will include staff at the transfer station: a manager, plus at least one part-time attendant. \u201cThere\u2019s no question that taxpayers will see a change,\u201d Strand said. \u201c\u2026We\u2019re just trying to make it as minimal as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n A legacy of waste troubles<\/p>\n The new anticipated costs of waste management have not been welcomed by all residents. The fact that curbside waste pickup is not guaranteed to continue has also been troubling to some, MacDonald said. <\/p>\n The town has solicited bids from multiple companies for waste hauling, Strand said, including Casella. Though Weld confirmed that free curbside pickup would end, he did not rule out the possibility that Casella would continue to offer the service to residents for a cost \u2014 though the company has not yet said what that cost would be.<\/p>\n Some residents discussed putting a warrant article before voters last year to explore changing the town\u2019s prohibition on expansion or reopening negotiations with Casella, MacDonald said. But no article was ultimately put forward last year, and though the conversations have continued this year, he said he wondered if the upcoming March 2027 town meeting would be \u201ctoo late\u201d for such a move.<\/p>\n \u201cNCES has the physical space to expand and continue providing disposal capacity for Bethlehem and the more than 200 New Hampshire communities that rely on the facility. However, expansion would require a change in local zoning, which has not occurred, as well as applicable regulatory approvals,\u201d Weld said, referring to Bethlehem\u2019s prohibition on expansion at the site. <\/p>\n Resident Daniel Noyes said he hadn\u2019t felt positive about the closure announcement. Mostly, he said, he and others he knew were confused about the status of the town\u2019s plans for its trash, and wished for more communication from the Transfer Station Committee. On Tuesday night, he had attempted to attend a meeting of the committee, which was ultimately canceled for lack of a quorum. Noyes said he was disappointed not to be able to ask questions.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone\u2019s got a different story of what they think is happening,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Even with operations drawing down, Bethlehem will not soon forget the waste pile within its borders, Strand said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe landfill will be there forever, you know?\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s a giant mountain over there.\u201d<\/p>\n Her hope is that the town can endure the transition ahead and overcome the trash-related disputes that have divided residents for decades. <\/p>\n \u201cMost people, I think, in our town are just tired of the fight, tired of the divisions that it creates, tired of the same old arguments, both pro and against,\u201d Strand said. \u201cYou know, we\u2019re just \u2014 we just want to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n Molly Rains<\/a> covers energy and the environment for the New Hampshire Bulletin<\/a>.<\/p>\n