Newfields Select Board votes to end recycling: How residents are pushing back

NEWFIELDS — A group of residents are filing a citizens’ petition to save curbside recycling, despite the Select Board’s decision to cut the program from the 2024 budget.

The petition, led by former selectwoman Jacqui Silvani, asks voters to approve $15,000 annually at the March Town Meeting to maintain biweekly pickup of curbside recycling. Last year, recycling pickup in town was weekly.

“We hope the town will recognize the cost savings,” she said.

The decision to put forward a warrant article follows the Select Board’s decision to remove funding for recycling from the proposed 2024 town budget.

While recycling pickup was slated to end Dec. 31, 2023, the board agreed to keep the program going until March after receiving a petition from 142 residents. The move will allow voters to have the final say at the ballot booth.

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Why does Select Board want to end recycling program?

Select Board Chair Michael Sununu recommended eliminating recycling at the board's Nov. 28 meeting to cut costs. He said the town was projecting a 9% increase in its proposed 2024 budget and recycling was the best option to cut.

“I don’t know where else to find money in the budget,” said Sununu, who noted the board did not want to make cuts to the Fire Department or Police Department.

Sununu estimated the town would save between $40,000 to $50,000 by not recycling.

In addition to eliminating recycling, the board also removed funds for the mosquito control program.

Both cuts lowered the proposed budget increase by 3%, to a 6% increase over last year’s $1.8 million budget.

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Newfields board defends decision to end recycling

Sununu said he isn’t against recycling, but he is against the cost of recycling. He said municipal waste costs less than $220 a ton while recycling costs $550 a ton.

He said it has been his “preference for years” to not recycle because “the system doesn’t work the way it did 10 years ago.”

When he made the recommendation to cut the program Nov. 28, he cited a 2018 New York Times article.

“Only 8% of plastic actually gets recycled, paper is not being recycled anymore at all, the only thing getting recycled is metal … we don’t even recycle glass because we know it’s not worth putting in the stream,” Sununu said.

“This is the reality of recycling in America, which is we pay a lot of money for recycling collection, and at the end of the day, it’s not doing what people hope,” he added.

Sununu said residents who want to recycle still can. He said the town has a contract with Newmarket, where residents can drop off recycling at its recycling center at 345 Ash Swamp Road.

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Residents renew fight to keep recycling

Silvani, who also serves on the town’s Recycling Committee, said that she was “disappointed” with the vote by town officials to discontinue recycling.

She said the decision puts the town “right back where it started.”

Silvani said “cost reduction” was used by the Select Board when they discontinued curbside recycling in 2019. She recalled the decision was made “without ample time to discuss,” which resulted in a “big outcry” from residents.

The town created a Recycling Committee in 2020, and the group worked to bring back curbside recycling service the following year.

She said voters overwhelmingly supported the initiative.

“The town told us to be more involved, we got involved, but now we’re back where we started,” said Silvani.

Silvani said the annual cost for weekly curbside recycling is about $33,000. Reducing the service to bi-weekly will cost the town around $15,000.

She disputed the town’s projected savings of $40,000 to $50,000 to end recycling pickup. She said town officials did not consider the additional costs of having recyclables placed in the regular waste stream.

Silvani plans to file the petition before the Jan. 9 deadline to submit warrant articles for the upcoming Town Meeting.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Newfields residents fight to save curbside recycling from budget cuts