04/24/2026
Wilmot Talks Trash, by Dave Nelson
On Behalf of the Wilmot Waste Reduction Advisory Committee
Thank you to all the Wilmot registered voters who attended the March Town Meeting and voted to support the warrant article authorizing the construction of a recycling building at the Wilmot Transfer Station. This building is a critical first step in implementing the recycling of cardboard, mixed paper, Styrofoam and some plastic material, and giving the town the ability to mitigate the rapidly increasing cost and environmental impact of waste disposal. This project makes both economic sense and is the right thing to do in stewardship of our environment. The warrant article received overwhelming support, and the best news is that, due to some unanticipated revenue in 2025, The Town of Wilmot was able to fund the project with minimal impact to the Wilmot property tax rate.
The Wilmot Selectboard has formed a subcommittee to manage this project. The members of the committee are Joyce Gawron (Selectboard Member), Meghan Foley (Town Administrator), Josh Hatch (Director of Public Works), Eric Maines (member of Highway Department), Dave Mermelstein (Project Manager from Trident Group), Ken Kessler and Dave Nelson (both from the Wilmot Waste Reduction Advisory Committee). This committee will meet on an as needed basis throughout the construction process to work out the final building design, obtain quotes for construction, present options to the selectboard for their approval and oversee the construction project. The funding for the project will lapse on 12/31/26, so all activity will need to be complete prior to that date. This is a tight timeline, but the project is not complex and the deadline can be met.
As was done with the Town Hall project, there will be a page on the town website dedicated to this project. This webpage will be the primary means of communication with town residents for project progress updates. The subcommittee meetings are open to the public. Notification of meeting times will be posted to the Town Website (on the homepage under “latest news” along with notification of all other town meetings). We encourage anyone with interest, questions or input about this project to attend these public meetings or send email to [email protected]
It is very exciting and gratifying to finally see this project moving forward. There is still a lot of work to be done, but there is no doubt this is the right first step toward reducing the cost of Wilmot’s solid waste disposal, reducing the volume of trash going into the limited landfill capacity in New Hampshire and being in compliance with Wilmot’s own ordinance requiring recycling.
For those who would like to learn more about the activities of the Wilmot Waste Reduction Advisory Committee, the minutes of our monthly meeting are now available to all at https://bit.ly/4mk1ZNQ . Our next meeting will be 2:00 PM, Wednesday 5/13/26 at the Wilmot Public Library. We encourage anyone interested to attend.
The Wilmot Waste Reduction Advisory Committee can be reached at [email protected]
Minutes of the Wilmot Waste Reduction Advisory Committee meetings
