Lancaster Transfer Station Unable to Find Buyers for Plastic Recycling

LANCASTER — Lancaster’s transfer station has accumulated three large containers of plastic but has been unable to find a buyer for any of it this year, raising the possibility that the town may have to stop accepting some plastics. Rusty Scott, the transfer station supervisor, told the Select Board on Oct. 5 that the market’s problems may be more than a temporary setback. He said the town could soon stop accepting some materials, particularly PET plastic water bottles. The problem is part of a broader recycling crisis affecting towns in northern New Hampshire and Vermont. Recycling facilities are losing buyers as plastic processing capacity shrinks, prices for recycled material fall, and shipping costs rise.