NH Solid Waste Legislation Updates: 2026 Session
The New Hampshire Legislature's 2026 session has come to a close. NH Recycles tracks bills regarding solid waste and recycling throughout the legislative session. You can check back for updates. This page was last revised on July 7, 2026.
Need a refresher about how the legislative process works in New Hampshire? Here's an overview of how a bill becomes a law. A Glossary of Terms is also provided at the end of this update.
Please note: NH Recycles does not take a position for or against any legislation; however, NH Recycles occasionally provides testimony about proposed legislation to educate elected officials about how proposed legislation might impact NH Recycles' member communities.
2026 Legislation
Bills that Became Law
HB1192 (House): exempting certain household pharmaceutical wastes from the definition of hazardous waste.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Linda Haskins, Nicholas Germana
- Committee: Senate Energy & Natural Resources
- Status: Signed by Governor Ayotte
SB593 (Senate): relative to landfills. (New Title) enabling the use of solid waste management funds by solid waste management districts.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Kevin Avard, David Watters, Howard Pearl, Mark McConkey
- Committee: House Energy and Natural Resources
- Status: Signed by Governor Ayotte
Bills Awaiting Governor's Action
HB707-FN (Senate) and HB1189-FN (House): establishing a solid waste site evaluation committee.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Kelley Potenza, Bill Boyd, Nicholas Germana, Haskins, King, Judy Aron, Noble, Burroughs, Gruber, Schmidt, Fenton, Ricciardi, Rochefort
- Committee: Senate Finance
- Status: Enrolled (in recess of) 06/04/2026 (passed House and Senate, awaiting potential action by Governor)
HB1141 (House): prohibiting the extraction of groundwater for the purpose of bottling in plastic bottles. (New Title) relative to permitting and fee authority for mining and prospecting
- Sponsors: (Prime) Tony Caplan, Peter Bixby, Nicholas Germana, Parshall, Read
- Committee: Senate Energy and Natural Resources
- Status: Enrolled (in recess of) 06/04/2026 (passed House and Senate, awaiting potential action by Governor)
Bills that Failed
HB451-FN (Senate) and HB1198-FN (House): establishing the paint product stewardship program.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Karen Ebel, David Watters, Peter Leishman, Peter Bixby, Kevin Avard, Dick Thackston, Anita Burroughs, Megan Murray, Cindy Rosenwald, Judy Aron, James Creighton, Howard Pearl, Carry Spier
- Status: House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee Report Filed - Ought to Pass with Amendment, Senate Ways and Means Committee Report Filed - Ought to Pass
- Status: Vetoed by Governor Ayotte
HB619-FN-A (House): making an appropriation to the solid waste management fund.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Karen Ebel, Judy Aron, Bill Boyd, Mooney, Nicholas Germana, Bixby, Leishman, Rung, Grote, Nancy Murphy, Watters, Ricciardi, Avard, Rosenwald
- Committee: House Finance
- Status: Inexpedient to Legislate
HB1096 (House): establishing a committee to study ways to manage disposal of vapes and e-cigarettes.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Nicholas Germana, Judy Aron, Barbour, Bixby, Gruber, Haskins, Potenza, Wade, Ebel, Fenton, Pearl, Watters
- Committee: House Environment and Agriculture
- Status: Inexpedient to Legislate
HB1282 (House): establishing a commission to advise the department of environmental services on food waste diversion.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Lucius Parshall, Nicholas Germana, Gruber, Caplan
- Committee: House Environment and Agriculture
- Status: Inexpedient to Legislate
HB1679-FN (House): establishing a beverage container redemption program.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Alissandra Murray, Malloy, Hegner, Horrigan, Haskins, Harvey, Fellows, Manohar, Lucas, LaMontagne
- Committee: House Commerce and Consumer Affairs
- Status: Inexpedient to Legislate
SB226-FN (Senate): suspending applications for new landfills and establishing a committee to study the feasibility of incinerating solid waste.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Rochefort, Fenton, Ricciardi, Nicholas Germana, Wheeler
- Committee: Senate Energy and Natural Resources
- Status: Interim Study (automatically fails)
SB556-FN (Senate): including syringes and similar medical devices in the definition of special waste for purposes of solid waste management and making the disposal of such special waste a felony.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Keith Murphy, Sen. Pearl, Sen. Innis, Sen. Birdsell, Sen. Abbas
- Committee: Senate Judiciary
- Status: Interim Study (automatically fails)
HB1138 (House): limiting the placement of out-of-state waste going into New Hampshire landfills.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Nicholas Germana, David Watters, Peter Bixby, Karen Ebel, Nancy Murphy, Cindy Rosenwald, Judy Aron, Bill Boyd, Donovan Fenton, Kelley Potenza, Linda Haskins, James Gruber
- Committee: Senate Energy & Natural Resources
- Status: Interim Study (automatically fails)
HB1478-FN (House): requiring the department of environmental services to revise the rules for proposed new landfills.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Kelley Potenza, Anita Burroughs, Judy Aron, Denise Ricciardi, Donovan Fenton, Seth King, Liz Barbour, Nicholas Germana, James Gruber, David Rochefort
- Committee: House Environment and Agriculture
- Status: Interim Study (automatically fails)
HB1602-FN (House): creating a safe battery recycling stewardship program.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Karen Ebel, Burroughs, Spier, Thackston, Judy Aron, Barbour, Bixby, Creighton, Maggiore, Rosenwald, Ricciardi, Pearl, Avard, Watters
- Committee: House Finance Committee
- Status: Interim Study (automatically fails)
HB1622-FN (House): requiring the state to develop additional solid waste disposal capacity.
- Sponsors: (Prime) Linda Haskins, Nicholas Germana, Potenza, Wendy Thomas, Gruber, Fenton, Ricciardi
- Committee: House Finance Committee
- Status: Status: Interim Study (automatically fails)
The earlier House Bill 2026-2288 relative to the recycling of film plastics was WITHDRAWN prior to moving from LSR to Bill.
Resources: The General Court of New Hampshire
Glossary of Terms
Indefinitely postpone:
- Bill considered killed.
Inexpedient to legislate (ITL):
- A recommendation by the committee indicating that the committee is against the bill.
- Bill considered killed.
Legislative Service Request (LSR):
- An LSR is a filing made by a legislator for a proposed bill and submitted to the Office of Legislative Services to have a bill drafted. It is then assigned a bill docket number. Draft bills come from the 400 elected members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the 24 members of the New Hampshire Senate.
Ought to pass (OTP):
- A recommendation by the committee indicating that the committee supports the bill.
Ought to pass as amended (OTPA):
- A recommendation by the committee indicating that the committee supports the bill with an amendment(s).
Refer to interim study:
- The committee would like the House or Senate to send it back down to the committee for further analysis.
Tabled:
- A legislative body adopts a motion to suspend consideration of a bill indefinitely.
