In a display of cooperation between the College and the town of Hanover, Dartmouth and Casella Waste Management held the groundbreaking ceremony for a new composting facility at the old Hanover landfill yesterday morning.
The chilly half-hour ceremony included a history of the two-year project as well as an explanation of Hanover and Dartmouth's roles in the building of the new facility. This was followed by a presentation by Elizabeth Bedard of the New Hampshire Governor's Office on Recycling, and, finally, the ceremonial groundbreaking.
The new facility is located off of Medical Center Drive, near Route 120.
Dartmouth and Casella Waste Management have co-funded the
planning, design, construction and start-up of the project at a total cost of approximately $500,000.
Hanover's role in the project was the lease of the old landfill as the land for the facility at a charge of one dollar a year.
"This project is the first of its kind in the state," said Hanover Town Manager Julia Griffin, who attended the ceremony. "It will accommodate Dartmouth's yard and food waste, as well as sewage from Hanover."
The design of the plant allows for food waste and non-recyclable paper from the College to pass through one process, while sewage and yard waste goes through another. This results in two grades of compost, which will be used on athletic fields as well as in the College's organic farm.
The new facility will be much larger than the 100-square-foot area the College has been using, and has the capacity to process 16,000 cubic yards of material per year.
In addition, the project has helped forge new bonds between the College and the town of Hanover. Bill Hochstin, assistant director of facilities and director of the Dartmouth Recycles program, said the relationship between the College and Hanover has "enabled our community to become a model of sustainable management for organic resources."
Hochstin went on to call the relationship between Dartmouth and Hanover as "a partnership of responsibility and vision."
