Bethlehem weighs next transfer station step as town plans for post-landfill trash and recycling service

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Bethlehem NH – Bethlehem officials are still working through grant, design and backup-plan questions as the town prepares a Route 116 transfer station.


Bethlehem’s transfer station plans are back in front of town officials.

The Select Board agenda for April 6 listed “Transfer Station- Aries Engineering Proposal” under board business. The agenda alone does not show whether the board approved anything that night. But it does show the project is still active as Bethlehem works toward a town-run waste and recycling setup on Route 116.

That matters because the town’s newly posted 2024 town report describes the transfer station as part of Bethlehem’s post-landfill solid-waste plan. The report says the North Country Environmental Services landfill is currently anticipated to close at the end of 2026, which would leave Bethlehem responsible for handling its own collection and disposal system again.

What officials are discussing now

A March 24 agenda for the Transfer Station Committee shows three live questions: the status of Congressionally Designated Spending grant money, the timeframe for seeking requests for proposals, and a contingency plan if transfer station construction is delayed.

Those are not abstract planning topics. They point to the two biggest near-term variables for the project: whether outside funding comes through and whether Bethlehem can move procurement and construction fast enough.

The town report says Bethlehem plans to build the facility on town-owned land off Route 116, a site that was used briefly for a transfer station in 2011 and 2012. According to the report, officials see that location as a way to reduce costs because the land already has landscaping work and a favorable environmental review behind it.

Money and design questions are still open

The same town report lays out the funding picture. It says $750,000 in CDS funding was secured for the Bethlehem Transfer Station Project, but also says that money cannot be guaranteed given changes in the federal administration and Congress.

The report also says the town submitted a $1.2 million Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant application in December. In addition, the committee reported that about $30,000 of reserve money had already been spent on engineering design and preliminary cost estimates, and that the transfer station reserve fund stood at $285,282 when the 2024 report was prepared.

An earlier Aries Engineering proposal helps explain what the April 6 agenda item likely refers to. In that 2023 document, Aries proposed conceptual drawings and a construction cost estimate for a solid-waste transfer station on the Route 116 property so Bethlehem could use the plans in grant applications.

What this means for residents

For now, this is a longer-term infrastructure story, not a notice that curbside service is about to stop. Bethlehem’s Public Works page says municipal trash is still collected curbside once a week, with recycling picked up every other week on the same day.

The bigger issue is what happens after the current landfill arrangement changes. If grants fall through, bids come in high, or construction slips, Bethlehem may need to make decisions about timing, contracts, or backup disposal arrangements. The March 24 committee agenda shows officials are already thinking about that contingency, but it does not by itself spell out what the fallback plan would be.

Residents who want the next signal should watch for Select Board minutes, any formal request-for-proposals documents, updated cost estimates, and more detail on what the town would do if the Route 116 project misses its target timeline. Until officials say otherwise, the current curbside trash and recycling schedule remains the resident-facing system in place now.

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