Hooksett Recycling and Transfer Advisory Committee Meeting - March 31, 2026
Hooksett Recycling and Transfer Advisory Committee Meeting - March 31, 2026
The Hooksett Recycling and Transfer Advisory Committee met on March 31, 2026, at approximately 11:45 AM. Chair Turk called the meeting to order with attendance from members Victor Barum, Jeff Nyon, Alex Walzik, Sean Dumont, and Ray Barney. John Geotas was absent. The committee approved the minutes from November 25, 2025, and received a comprehensive update from Sean Dumont on operations, finances, recycling markets, equipment, staffing, and facilities.
Discussion Items
- Material & Financial Summary (November-December 2025): Sean Dumont presented a comparison to the prior year, noting that Saturday operations brought in less revenue over the same seven-month period. Monthly revenue fluctuated from $15,000 down to $4,000 depending on weather.
- Tipping Fees and Surcharges: Current tipping fee is $98.10 per ton, rising to $103 per ton on July 1, 2026. An environmental surcharge of $3.50 per ton is applied but reimbursed quarterly. The committee discussed the administrative burden of submitting reimbursement paperwork and expressed a preference for an exempt key for municipalities.
- Disposal Rates: Furniture disposal is $100.94 per ton plus the $3.50 surcharge; demolition materials are $119 per ton. North Coast Electronics charges per pound: flat screens $0.20, computers/laptops $0.18, printers/copiers $0.14, fluorescent bulbs $0.07 per foot.
- Battery and Vape Disposal: Lithium batteries pose a fire hazard; staff manually separate seven types and use a special smothering material. One incident occurred where a bucket of batteries was smoking on a Monday morning. Vape pens with tobacco are not accepted due to lack of state guidance; weed pens are accepted if the tobacco cartridge is removed.
- Recycling Market Updates: Cardboard prices decreased from $45-50/ton to $40/ton. Metal recycling switched to a new contractor (Windfield of Lawrence) at $140/ton with no freight fee, which is more profitable than the previous arrangement. Glass remains steady at $50/ton. Plastic (mixed #1-7) brings only $0.002 per pound; a tractor-trailer load of 38 bales earned $80 but cost $200 in baling wire. Separating only #1 plastic (milk jugs) could yield $1 per pound, but storage space is insufficient.
- Equipment Sales: The old international trash truck sold for $23,000, and the 1990 bailer sold for $4,800 (scrap value was $600). Proceeds go to the special revenue fund.
- New Bailer: A new bailer was received and is working well after a learning curve. It allows one-person operation and automatically ejects finished bales. A $5,000 grant from New Hampshire Recycles was received.
- Building Project: The proposed new building did not pass in a vote, which Sean Dumont attributed to insufficient information dissemination and misinformation from some town councilors. The engineered estimate was $1.3 million, but the committee hoped for around $600,000. Alternatives such as modular construction are being considered. The building would have provided a staff lunchroom and better oversight of the facility.
- Totes (Trash Barrels): The committee ordered 150 new barrels at $72 each including shipping ($7,800 for barrels, $3,000 shipping). Residents are charged $85 if barrels are damaged. Barrels carry a 12-year warranty, and staff will now use that warranty for replacements.
- Staffing: The facility is fully staffed for the first time in a long while. New hires include heavy equipment operator Bob Fratis and trash truck driver Nick Danati.
- Solar Project: After financing issues that increased connection fees from $30,000 to $600,000, the solar project is back on track. All permits have been approved; construction is expected to begin in early spring (within the next month) pending fire department permitting.
- Mowing Equipment: A remote-controlled hybrid mower costing $40,000 was demonstrated. It can handle steep slopes and areas under solar panels. The committee is considering sharing the cost with other towns like Allenstown or Pembroke.
- Committee Membership: The committee needs one more full member and two alternates to meet its composition of five full members and two alternates. The issue will be raised at the next town council meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the minutes of November 25, 2025.
- No motions were made on action items; the meeting was primarily informational and discussion-based.
- The committee will pursue outreach for new members and consider modular building options.
- The meeting adjourned at 7:18 PM.
Meeting Transcript
All right, shall we stop? Is the speaker on? It is, yep. All right. Gonna call the hookster recycling and transfer advisory committee a meeting. Um March thirty first, twenty twenty-six call to order. Start with you, Turk. Uh Victor Barum. Oh Jeff Nyon. Alex Walzik. Sean Dumont. Ray Barney. Now we need the pleasure allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. One nation undergoing indivisible liberty and justice prokay. It's been a while. Did everyone get a chance to read the minute meetings from uh November 25th, 2025? I did. Double look. Need a motion to accept. I'll make a motion to accept. Second. Second. All in favor? All right. All right. Good job. So Sean, we're gonna go with the material somewhat all of November, December, and so this is basic basically from last September. Okay. And this is actually I I did this right at the last second, so this is not in the packet. Thank you. So that's a good thank you. You got it. Nice. Charts. It's a comparison to last year. Yeah, so that's comparison to last year, because I know one of the big things we were what was in question was the Saturdays. Are we losing? You know, so this was last year. Last year, our Saturdays w we did work Saturdays, and we actually made less last year. Over that seven months that we see there. And you can just see, you know, with the weather, obviously everything drops dramatically. Yeah. You go from fifteen thousand to as low as four thousand a month. So again, that's what I really like about this new program. It breaks it right down. You can see the totals. Commercial demo. Free on units. As of right now till July first, we're paying uh ninety-eight dollars per ton, ninety-eight ten per ton.
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