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City of Nashua, NH
Hillsborough County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[NRO 1975, T. 6, §§ 401 to 411 (Secs. 10-21 to 10-33 of the 1987 Code)]
[Amended 4-14-1987 by Ord. No. O-86-105; 8-13-2002 by Ord. No. O-02-69]
As used in this article:
APPROVED
Approved by the Board of Health, the Board of Public Works or their authorized representatives, as applicable.
ASHES
Any residue, other than salvage, from the burning of combustible materials.
COMPOSTING
The biochemical degradation of organic materials to a stable, sanitary, nuisance-free, humus-like material.
COMMERCIAL
Relates to or is connected with trade and traffic or commerce in general; is occupied with business and commerce.
CONSTRUCTION DEBRIS AND DEMOLITION WASTE
Nonputrescible waste, building material and rubble.
DUMP
A place where refuse is disposed of, on, or in the ground in a manner other than the normal accepted practices for sanitary landfill operations.
GARBAGE
Swill and every accumulation of animal, vegetable, and other matter that attends the preparation, handling, consumption, storage or decay of plant and animal matter, including meats, fowl, birds, fruit, vegetable or dairy products and waste wrappers and containers thereof.
HAZARDOUS WASTE
A solid, semisolid, liquid, or contained gaseous waste, or any combination of these wastes which because of either quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may cause or contribute to an increase of irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness, or pose a present or potential threat to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, disposed of, or otherwise mismanaged; or which has been identified as a hazardous waste by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, office of waste management using the criteria established under RSA 147:50 I(a), and/or as listed under RSA 147:50 I(e). Such wastes include, but are not limited to, those which are toxic, corrosive, ignitable, reactive, irritants, strong sensitizers, or which generate pressure through decomposition, heat, or other means. Such wastes do not include radioactive substances that are regulated or controlled by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended.
HOSPITAL WASTE
Material contaminated as a result of contact with wastes or infected matter, during, or as a result of, care or treatment of patients in hospitals or nursing homes.
HUMAN EXCRETA
Fecal and urinary discharges and includes any waste containing such material.
INCINERATOR
An apparatus, device, container, or equipment in which combustible wastes are ignited and burned.
INCOMPATIBLE WASTE
A hazardous waste that is not suited for placement in a particular device because it may cause corrosion or other hazards, or is not suited for commingling with any other waste because it may produce heat, pressure, or a hazardous reaction.
INDIVIDUAL SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM
A disposal system whose original source of wastes is limited to sewage originating from/on an individual property, dwelling or premises designed and constructed to receive, treat and dispose of liquidborne wastes in such manner as to retain settleable solids in a liquid-type tank and to discharge the liquid portion in an approved manner to an adequate disposal area. Examples include, but are not limited to, septic tanks with soil absorption systems, incinerator-type toilets, and holding tank systems.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
Any liquid, gaseous or solid waste substance resulting from any process of industry, manufacturing, trade or business or from development of any natural resources.
INFECTIOUS WASTE
Any waste which because of its infectious nature may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in morality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness; or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.
MANURE
Animal feces and urine with or without natural organic bedding materials such as hay, sawdust, straw or wood chips, but exclusive of human waste.
NEW SUBDIVISION
A subdivision whose plat or plot plan has been approved after the effective date of this article.
NUISANCE
Any activity which arises from unreasonable, unwarranted or unlawful use by a person of his own property, working obstruction or injury to another, or to the public.
OTHER WASTES
Any substance harmful to the health, safety or welfare of persons including, but not limited to, garbage, refuse, decayed wood, sawdust, shavings, bark, lime, ashes, offal, oil, tar, chemicals and other substances other than industrial wastes.
PATHOLOGIC WASTES
Human tissues, fluids and other metabolic by-products together with such materials and equipment as may be contaminated by same to include sharps, laboratory cultures, dialysis unit wastes and blood and blood products.
PERSON
Any individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, corporation, partnership or association engaged in the business of commercial solid waste storage, collection and handling.
POLLUTION
Contamination, or other alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties of any waters or public outdoor atmosphere, which will or may create a public nuisance or render such water, land or public outdoor atmosphere harmful, detrimental, or injurious to public health, safety, welfare, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life.
PRIVATE NUISANCE
An invasion of a person's interest in the private use and enjoyment of land, including any wrongful act which destroys or deteriorates the property of an individual or of a few persons or interferes with their lawful use or enjoyment thereof, or any act which unlawfully hinders them in the enjoyment of a common or public right and causes them a special injury different from that sustained by the general public.
PUBLIC NUISANCE
One which affects an indefinite number of persons or all the residents of a particular locality or all people coming within the extent of its range or operation.
PUBLIC SEWER
A sewer located in a road, street, alley, easement or right-of-way, used to convey sewage to community treatment and disposal facilities.
PUTRESCIBLE MATERIAL
Any organic material that can decompose and give rise to foul smells and noxious by-products.
REFUSE
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid and semisolid wastes, including garbage, rubbish, ashes, manure, street cleanings, dead animals, and industrial wastes, but not human excreta.
REFUSE COLLECTION
The process whereby solid waste and/or solid waste containers containing solid waste are taken from designated location on any premises and loaded into vehicles intended for transport from the premises to the disposal site.
REFUSE CONTAINER
An approved portable device designed, constructed or purchased to hold or store solid waste, pending collection and transport to the disposal area.
RUBBISH
Nonputrescible solid wastes, excluding ashes, consisting of both combustible and noncombustible wastes.
SEPTIC TANK
A liquid-tight receptacle which receives raw sewage for storage and digestion, and which has been designed and constructed so as to retain the solids and to allow the liquids to discharge through a secondary system of piping to an approved form of subsurface disposal area.
SEWAGE
The wastes from toilets, baths, sinks, lavatories, washing machines, and other plumbing fixtures in residences, institutions, public and business buildings, mobile homes, watercraft, and other places of human habitation, employment or recreation.
SEWERAGE SYSTEM
Includes the pipes or conduits, pumping stations, force mains, and all other devices, appurtenances, and facilities used for collecting, treating or conducting sewage to point of final disposition.
SLUDGE
Any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, exclusive of the treated effluent from a wastewater treatment plant.
SOLID WASTE
Waste material generated within the City of Nashua and approved for disposal at the Nashua landfill. It does not include hazardous, toxic or nuclear waste as defined by the New Hampshire solid or hazardous waste rules or the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended.
SUBDIVISION
Any lot, tract or parcel of land which is hereafter divided into two or more parcels.
SUITABLE PERSON
The individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company, corporation, partnership or association, or employee thereof properly licensed and equipped to collect and transport solid waste generated and collected within the City limits of Nashua for disposal at the City landfill in conformity with this article.
WASTE
Any matter consisting of garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other spent, discarded or abandoned material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation, return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under Section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act as amended.
WASTE DISPOSAL SYSTEM
Any system for the disposal of sewage and other wastes, including but not limited to public or franchised sewerage systems, individual sewage disposal systems, chemical toilets, privies, waste treatment works, sanitary landfill operations, dumps, incinerators, and composting operations.
WASTE HANDLING
Includes the complete process required of collection and transport of bulk or contained solid waste from point of generation to the disposal site.
WASTE TRANSPORT
Includes that portion of the solid waste disposal operation which provides for the hauling of solid waste in bulk or refuse containers to the disposal site.
WASTE TREATMENT WORKS
Any plant, disposal field, lagoon or other works used for the purpose of treating or stabilizing sewage or industrial wastes.
WATERS
All rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies of accumulated water, surface and underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the City of Nashua or any portion thereof.
A. 
The Board of Public Works may, after notice and public hearing, establish sanitary landfills within the boundaries of the City and establish rules and regulations for the collection of all forms of trash and waste.
B. 
The Board shall fix a reasonable time for a hearing on the establishment of a landfill. Notice shall be given to the owners of all of the real property situated within 200 feet of any of the boundaries of the landfill, or their representatives in interest if of record in the office of the Board of Assessors, either in hand or by notice sent by certified mail, and notice also shall be given by publication in a newspaper published in the City. The notice shall be sent or delivered in hand at least 14 days before the date and time of the hearing and shall be published at least 14 days before the date and time of the hearing and published again at least 72 hours before the hearing. Notices sent by mail shall be mailed to the last known address of the owners or their representatives in interest.
C. 
The Board of Public Works shall give notice of any hearing on the establishment of rules and regulations for the collection of all forms of trash and waste by publishing such notice in a newspaper published in the City at least 14 days before the date and time of the hearing.
[Amended 6-25-1985 by Ord. No. O-85-139; 12-10-1985 by Ord. No. O-85-182; 4-13-1999 by Ord. No. O-99-109; 8-13-2002 by Ord. No. O-02-69]
A. 
A disposal permit will be required for all non-City-owned vehicles before any such vehicle shall be allowed to dispose of waste material in any City landfill. A disposal permit shall be issued only to individuals or firms resident in the City and shall be valid only for the calendar year in which it is issued. Each permit shall be nontransferable and shall be affixed to the lower left-hand corner of the windshield of each vehicle of the permittee. Transfer of a permit or failure to display a permit, or to comply with the rules and regulations as established by the Board of Public Works, by the permittee will result in immediate revocation of dumping privileges without notice. The City may accept waste material from any New Hampshire municipality provided that any contract with any New Hampshire municipality be approved by the Board of Public Works and the Board of Aldermen.
[Amended 9-12-2006 by Ord. No. O-06-26]
B. 
Permits will be issued after payment of the fee to be established by the Board of Public Works.
C. 
Passenger vehicles and noncommercial vehicle permits shall not exceed a fee of $5. Commercial vehicle permits shall not exceed a fee of $50.
D. 
Unless otherwise provided, any person violating any provision of this article may be punished by a fine of not more than $20, or the loss of privileges to use the facility, or both.
[Amended 12-12-1984 by Ord. No. O-84-113; 6-25-1986 by Ord. No. O-85-140; 10-11-1988 by Ord. No. O-88-86; 6-27-1989 by Ord. No. O-89-123; 7-10-1990 by Ord. No. O-90-35; 11-24-1992 by Ord. No. O-92-13; 8-9-1994 by Ord. No. O-94-35; 4-13-1999 by Ord. No. O-99-109; 5-23-2000 by Ord. No. O-00-25; 8-13-2002 by Ord. No. O-02-69; 9-12-2006 by Ord. No. O-06-25; 9-12-2006 by Ord. No. O-06-26]
All permittees holding permits under § 270-8 shall pay the following fees in connection with waste material deposited by them at any landfill:
A. 
For the commercial disposal of mattresses, a fee not to exceed $10 as established by the Board of Public Works. This fee is in addition to the applicable tipping fee. This fee does not apply to the residential disposal of waste by residential customers.
[Added 9-12-2006 by Ord. No. O-06-26]
B. 
For the deposit of all waste material requiring segregation from the usual waste stream:
(1) 
Asbestos or asbestos containing materials from Nashua properties, packaged and documented in accordance with federal EPA regulations: $0.10 per pound or fraction thereof, with a minimum charge of $25.
(2) 
Asbestos mixed with otherwise clean fill, asbestos siding shingles: $200 per ton.
(3) 
All other materials requiring special handling: $80 to $100 per ton.
C. 
Construction and demolition debris shall be charged on a per-ton basis at $300 per ton. Other acceptable municipal solid waste not defined in other subsections of this section shall be charged on a per-ton basis not less than $60 per ton and not more than $90 per ton to be established from time to time by the aldermanic Finance Committee in consultation with the Director of Public Works and Board of Public Works. There will be a minimum charge not to exceed 1/2 of a ton as established by the Board of Public Works for commercial disposal of municipal solid waste, construction and demolition debris and sweepings. Waste from mobile home parks and multifamily residences, including apartment, condominium, rowhouse and townhouse complexes, shall be exempt from such fee in accordance with written procedures established by the Division of Public Works.
[Amended 9-12-2006 by Ord. No. O-06-26; 3-22-2022 by Ord. No. O-22-009]
D. 
For recyclables from commercial customers, a charge sufficient to cover the cost of handling as determined by the Board of Public Works.
E. 
If the landfill scale is inoperative, the following schedule of fees will apply:
(1) 
Noncompaction vehicles: $1.75 per cubic yard.
(2) 
Compaction vehicles: $10.50 per cubic yard.
F. 
A fee of $10 will be charged for certified weighing for other than landfill use.
G. 
Interest at the rate of 1.5% per month will be charged on all unpaid invoices more than 30 days past due beginning with invoices rendered after the effective date of this ordinance from which this subsection derives.
[Amended 8-13-2002 by Ord. No. O-02-69]
A. 
In order to provide for recycling of classes of trash and waste which have an established market value or cannot be used in the sanitary landfill, no person shall place or leave, or cause to be placed, trash or waste material of any kind in any place or on any property for collection except in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the Board of Public Works.
B. 
No person shall use any municipal sanitary landfill in the City except for the purpose of dumping, and no person shall pick over or carry away any substance which has been placed at curbside for collection or deposited in any municipal sanitary landfill.
C. 
No person shall place or leave or cause to be placed or left in or near any dwelling house, barn, shed, store, shop or cellar any substance that is or is liable to become putrid or offensive or injurious to the public health.
D. 
The collection and disposal of materials such as bulky waste and metal items shall be handled according to the policies as outlined by the Board of Public Works.
No person shall place or leave or cause to be placed or left in any municipal sanitary landfill in the City any substance whatsoever between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. on weekdays and at no time whatsoever on Sundays and legal holidays.
Liquid industrial waste shall be banned entirely from municipal sanitary landfill areas. Other industrial waste may be deposited in the area so long as it does not create an obnoxious odor, but shall be deposited in accordance with the State Board of Health regulations.
The Board of Public Works shall maintain an effective program of rodent control at municipal sanitary landfills, and shall provide rodent control service at least once a month and more often if necessary.
Each day's deposit of trash in a municipal sanitary landfill shall be covered with a minimum of six inches of fill according to the directions outlined in the Camp, Dresser & McKee report.
There shall be a screen of trees or shrubs for a distance of 125 feet from any City or property line to the area of operations of the sanitary landfill.
Access roads to the sanitary landfill operation shall be cleared of refuse daily.
[Amended 8-13-2002 by Ord. No. O-02-69]
Adequate security shall be provided at the Four Hills Landfill.
[Amended 3-12-1985 by Ord. No. O-84-79; 8-13-2002 by Ord. No. O-02-69]
Any person who shall violate or cause to be violated, by agent or otherwise, any provision of this article, or any order, rule or regulation made by the Board of Public Works or the Director or Superintendent or the Health Officer or the Board of Health under the authority of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished as provided in § 1-12 of the City Code and the costs of prosecution for each offense.