Rollinsford News

Public Hearing: Disposal of Domestic Animal Waste

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

SELECT BOARD
TOWN OF ROLLINSFORD

June 20, 2016
6:00 pm
Town Hall

Transfer Station Ordinance:  Disposal of Domestic Animal Waste
In the past few years the transfer station has experienced some unfortunate incidents associated with the disposal of domestic animal waste in the trash compactor.  In order to safeguard public health and well-being, the Select Board is proposing the following amendment to the transfer station ordinance (93-1).  The amendment clarifies that only domestic animal waste is allowed in the compactor and only as part of a bag of solid waste.  No singular containers of domestic animal waste, capped or uncapped, can be disposed of in the trash compactor.
Proposed amendment to Ordinance 93-1
Ordinance 93-1, Section II.  General Use, A. Acceptable Materials:

Solid Waste Placed in the Compactor

    1. All household non-recyclable, non-hazardous waste will be placed in the compactor to be taken to Waste Management Turnkey Landfill in Rochester, NH.
    2. The disposal of animal waste shall be limited to domesticated, household pets and must be properly contained within a bag with other household waste. Waste that is not properly contained will not be accepted.   Disposing of a singular container of animal waste, either capped or uncapped, will be considered a violation.

The entire ordinance can be found online or at Town Hall.

June 8, 2016 in Public Works, Select Board

Grant Awarded for Stormwater Management

The Select Board is pleased to announce that the Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) has awarded the town a grant of $6,500 to assess its stormwater management standards and adopt model stormwater regulations (via public hearings and ballot votes).

The town has been identified as an MS4 regulated community which requires the town to come into compliance with US EPA stormwater management standards;  these are most commonly implemented by municipalities through zoning or regulations, requiring public hearings and ballot votes.

The Select Board will be acquiring the services of a consulting engineer to help guide this project.  We expect to conduct a public hearing this fall to introduce the town to the issues associated with the EPA stormwater management requirements.

August 8, 2015 in Select Board

Town Adopts Single-Stream Recycling at Transfer Station

Effective December 20, 2014: The transfer station will be operating under single-stream recycling for all of its recyclables except for cardboard.

The two open containers previously reserved for glass and plastics will now each hold glass, plastic, white paper, tin cans, and aluminum cans.

We have entered into a contract with Pinard Waste Systems of Manchester, NH, who—for a flat fee of $390/month—will pick up our single-stream recyclables each week. While this removes revenue from the town, it represents an overall cost savings. We anticipate a $10,000 reduction in capital costs in 2015 (we no longer need to replace our increasingly ineffective aluminum baler) as well as a minimum savings of $10,000 in annual operating costs.

For now, residents will be using the town’s two open containers for the single-stream recyclables.  In the near future, Pinard will be replacing them with 5 smaller open-top containers.  These new containers will belong to Pinard and the Select Board will review how best to dispose of the two 40-ton containers that the town owns.

We are anticipating that our residents will have a more efficient experience at the transfer station and that the town will enjoy an overall reduction in costs. The Select Board wishes to thank our road agent, Jeff St. Jean, for his efforts in helping to make these improvements.

(As background to this decision, in September Waste Management of Rochester abruptly refused to accept the plastics that the town had been hauling to them for years, saying that we had no contract with them to accept plastics — or glass. Since then, we have been hauling our plastics to Manchester at a cost of almost $1,000 per month. The increased expense precipitated our need to examine alternative approaches).

December 15, 2014 in Public Works