According to the Concord Monitor, “226,000 pounds of waste end up in New Hampshire’s landfills every year.”
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services conducted a N.H. Waste Characterization Study in April of 2025 and found “About 20 percent of waste is recyclable material,” according to an NHPR article.
In Keene, NH, Duncan Watson, head of Keene’s recycling center and transfer station, sees that “80% of what people bring to the dump is trash that ends up in a landfill, and those bags also often have recycling inside.”
One reason recyclables end up in trash is that there are not enough people or places to sort all of it, according to NHPR. Some areas have large centers with machines that scan and sort everything easily, but most places rely on centers run by humans to sort everything. For some areas, they don’t have big plants or places to sort their recycling from trash, so everything gets mixed and thrown into landfills.
At Portsmouth High School, Ken Linchey, the head of grounds keeping and buildings, thinks that students and staff do a good job at recycling; however, there’s room for improvement, especially outside.
“Usually it’s water bottles and soda cans from the snack shack,” said Linchey.
Among the many hard-working staff at PHS, Arthur Ashley, a custodian, keeps the school a clean and tidy environment. The trash and recycling are taken out by the company Waste Management. The recycling is taken once a week, while the trash is taken out twice a week.
“We basically do it all. We determine what’s recyclable and not,” Ashley stated.
When asked about Linchey’s comment, Ashley claimed, “Can’t blame students or teachers for the trash outside. The football games are public events which lead to stuff left by the field.”
Ashley also mentioned that, “for the person who buys cans or Dunkin’s, it’s up to them to put it in the right bin.”
Joe Lieberman, a junior at PHS, notes that he doesn’t see trash in school, and it’s clean.
“There could be more recycling bins and education,” Lieberman advised.
ECO Club has many ways it raises awareness about proper recycling. One way is through their Instagram page, @phs.eco, where they regularly post about their upcoming events. Another way they raise awareness is by holding campus clean-ups.
Hannah Dul, the advisor of the ECO Club at PHS, said that the club is working on many projects. One of the projects they are working on is the “Spring Market”, which is an upcoming fundraiser that hosts local vendors and artisans on school grounds. Recently, the club held a fundraiser at the restaurant Flatbread. These events support and fund the club’s projects.
Students who are interested in improving the school’s recycling process should join the club. Students can join by going to the weekly meetings every Wednesday in room 319. Students can also join the Google Classroom with the code, 4aklly3.
