Solid Waste & Recycling
Overview
City contractors collect trash at the curbside once a week. Trash and recycling are picked up curbside only on those properties that are on a public highway. Residents on a private road may hire a private firm to collect their trash, drop off their solid waste (including recyclables) at the City’s transfer station on Meredith Center Road, or bring their trash to a public highway for collection.
Laconia residents who bring their trash to the transfer station must have a either a day pass or an annual dump sticker.
Changes to Laconia’s Recycling Program
Reducing the amount of contamination that is in the recyclables will improve the value of the material as well as reduce the City’s processing costs. Please ensure that you do not put non-recyclable materials in with your recyclables. See the attached video on what you can do to remove contamination from our recyclables. Call Public Works if you have any questions on what can and cannot be recycled.
Casella Waste Systems, the City's solid waste hauler, has developed a system to crush glass. This process produces an aggregate that is useful for projects like road construction. Previously, glass was discarded with trash and technically-speaking it is not being recycled. However, the City requests you place your glass in recycling bins so that it may be reused as aggregate.
Curbside Recycling:
Laconia offers every-other-week collection of eligible recyclables on specified collection routes. No sorting is necessary. Materials, including paper, cardboard, metal, glass and plastic (#1-5) can all go in the same container.
*Please do not recycle plastic bags or place recycling in plastic bags. These bags clog the single stream sorting systems. If there are too many in a load, it is sent to a landfill instead of being recycled.
Remote Recycling:
The remote recycling center is at the Laconia Transfer Station. Residents do not have to have a dump sticker or day pass to recycle at this location. They must have some form of identification with them that shows they are a resident of Laconia. This can be a driver’s license, utility bill or another form of identification. Recyclables bought to the transfer station need to be sorted.
Batteries
Please take care to properly dispose of batteries. Typical household alkaline batteries (AA, AAA, C, D) may be discarded as trash. However, the growing market for lithium batteries has expanded into AA, AAA, and camera batteries. Crushed lithium batteries have been known to ignite fires at transfer stations. Please do not discard of any lithium batteries with trash. It is considered good practice to tape the ends of lithium batteries to prevent them from shorting out and starting a fire. Similarly, because button batteries (commonly used in electronics, hearing aids, and cameras) often contain mercury, lithium and other hazardous substances, they should not be throw out with trash. Besides containing hazardous metals, rechargeable batteries are recyclable. They also should not be put in the trash. Area retailers such as Best Buy and Staples will collect old batteries for free. Batteries Plus is another great resource to help you properly dispose of your batteries.