Gilford, New Hampshire, needs additional $400K to finish recycling project

Gilford, New Hampshire, is asking taxpayers to approve an additional $400,000 to complete upgrades at the town’s recycling facility. Currently, the facility accepts single-stream recycling, but contamination issues led the town to construct a new building at its transfer station, where residents can drop off sorted recyclables—plastics, aluminum, glass, paper and cardboard—and electronic scrap.

Voters in 2016 approved $950,000 in bonds to pay for the recycling project, which included the construction of the building, however; due to project delays the town needs an additional $400,000 to purchase a waste compactor, a baler for sorted materials and other equipment and to complete electrical work, paving and a restroom facility, according to an article in Laconia Daily Sun.

If the project is approved, it would change the town’s current arrangement with Concord Regional Solid Waste District, which incinerates the town’s municipal solid waste (MSW). Project funds would pay for additional staff at the recycling center, including full-time and part-time employees, to handle waste and recyclables.

Upgrades at the recycling facility would allow residents to drop their waste into a compactor and deposit recyclables through various doors at the front of the facility. The town says if the project is completed, the cost of recycling will decrease.

Residents will vote on the issue March 12.