How to Get Rid of Trash, Recycling, Yard Waste and Hazardous Waste
Your town's transfer station or trash pickup, what may never go in the trash in New Hampshire, household hazardous waste collection days, and composting at home.
Checked against its sources October 24, 2026.
On this page
Cite this page
This guide is written by Granite Record from the official pages it links to. Where a citation allows only one source, cite the official page for the part you rely on. The date below is the day the page was read.
- MLA
- “How to Get Rid of Trash, Recycling, Yard Waste and Hazardous Waste.” Granite Record, https://graniterecord.org/guides/trash-and-recycling. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.
- APA
- Granite Record. (n.d.). How to Get Rid of Trash, Recycling, Yard Waste and Hazardous Waste. Retrieved 25 Oct. 2026, from https://graniterecord.org/guides/trash-and-recycling
- Chicago
- Granite Record. “How to Get Rid of Trash, Recycling, Yard Waste and Hazardous Waste.” Accessed 25 Oct. 2026. https://graniterecord.org/guides/trash-and-recycling.
- BibTeX
@misc{guides-trash-and-recycling, title = {How to Get Rid of Trash, Recycling, Yard Waste and Hazardous Waste}, howpublished = {Granite Record}, url = {https://graniterecord.org/guides/trash-and-recycling}, note = {Accessed 25 Oct. 2026} }
At a Glance
Trash and recycling are your town’s to run: every town must provide a place for its residents’ trash, or arrange for one, and sets its own rules, fees and recycling. Some things may not go in the trash anywhere in New Hampshire: electronics, wet-cell and lithium-ion batteries, products containing mercury, and leaves and yard waste. Paint, pesticides, cleaners and other hazardous household products go to a household hazardous waste collection.
- Ask your town how it takes trash and recycling: a transfer station, pickup, bags or stickers.
Is it something special?
- Electronics, batteries, mercury, yard wasteNever in the trash. Ask your transfer station where it goes.
- Paint, cleaners, pesticides, oilKeep it for a household hazardous waste collection.
- Compost food scraps and yard trim at home, or in a town program.
Step by Step
Learn your town’s rules
Every town must either run a solid waste facility, often called the transfer station or the dump, or make sure its residents can use one elsewhere. The town sets the rules: what must be separated for recycling, how trash is collected, what it costs, and whether you must use special bags or stickers, which the town sells at a reasonable price. A town may fine people who break its rules.
Your town or city office, its website or the transfer station can tell you the hours, what it takes and how, including anything large.
The law: RSA 149-M:17
Never put these in the trash
State law forbids putting these in a landfill or incinerator anywhere in New Hampshire:
- Electronics: computers and monitors, printers, televisions and other screens, cell phones, copiers and fax machines.
- Wet-cell and lithium-ion batteries.
- Products that contain mercury, such as mercury fever thermometers. Keep them separate from your trash, for recycling or hazardous waste disposal.
- Leaves and yard waste.
Towns and transfer stations must make information available on recycling batteries and electronics and on where mercury products are accepted, and should offer recycling for batteries and electronics where they can. Ask at yours.
The law: RSA 149-M:4, RSA 149-M:27, RSA 149-M:51, RSA 149-M:58
Hazardous products: keep them for a collection day
Leftover products that can catch fire, react, explode, corrode or poison, such as paints, cleaners, oils, batteries and pesticides, are household hazardous waste. Do not pour them down the drain, on the ground or into a storm drain, and check before putting any out with the trash.
- Keep them in their original containers with the labels on, and never mix them.
- If a container is corroding, call your fire department for instructions.
- Take them to a household hazardous waste collection. The Department of Environmental Services lists each town’s contact for one, often a regional event run by a planning commission or a nearby city. If your town has no event listed, call the Department’s Household Hazardous Waste Program at (603) 271-2047.
- Some garages accept used motor oil for recycling.
Collection day contacts by town (Department of Environmental Services)Household hazardous waste (EPA)
Compost at home
You can compost food scraps from your kitchen with leaves and other yard trim. Mix “greens”, such as fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and grass clippings, with “browns”, such as dry leaves, twigs, shredded paper and cardboard. Leave out meat, fish, bones, dairy, fats and oils, which attract animals, and pet waste. If you have no room, look for a town or community composting program that collects food scraps or takes them at a drop-off.
Who Can Help
Your town or city office, and your transfer station, for the local rules, hours and fees and the date of the next household hazardous waste collection.
In the Record
Chapter 149-M: Solid Waste Management
Bills now before the General Court that would change it:
- HB 413 2021-2022 Became Law
Laws that changed it since 2020, newest first: