Environmental Performance

WasteWise and Recycling

WasteWise

WasteWise is an Environmental Protection Agency program that encourages reductions in municipal solid waste and promotes recycling and the expanded manufacture or purchase of materials containing recycled content. NU joined the program as a charter member in 1994.

Each March, NU produces a WasteWise report for the EPA outlining progress toward WasteWise goals and providing information on the quantity of materials NU recycled and its purchase of materials made with recycled content.

One example of a recycled material reported to WasteWise each year is the ash produced at our Merrimack and Schiller generating stations owned and operated by subsidiary Public Service Company of New Hampshire. In 2009, approximately 96,205 tons of ash were reused in cement, asphalt, and as a shaping and grading material for landfill closure.

• View NU’s 2009 WasteWise Report (76KB)

• For more information visit the EPA's WasteWise Website.

Recycling Case Study: Schiller Station Barrier

At PSNH’s Schiller Station, a 700-foot wall made of recycled plastic was installed to act as a visual/sound barrier. The wall, composed of 95-percent recycled post consumer plastics, cost the same as a standard timber wall, but using recycled content took a waste stream that would otherwise be dumped in landfills and transformed it into a usable product.