HAMPDEN, Maine — The group representing the trash-disposal interests of nearly 200 Maine towns has taken another step toward operating its own recycling and processing facility by signing a contract that will send leftover waste to a landfill in Norridgewock.
The Municipal Review Committee, which is working on a proposed $69 million facility in Hampden that will turn trash into biofuel and recycle other materials, approved a 10-year contract Wednesday with Waste Management of Houston to take the plant’s residuals. Waste Management operates the Norridgewock landfill.
The signing came 10 months after the state denied MRC’s request to operate its own landfill in Greenbush or Argyle to handle the proposed plant’s residual materials. The landfill proposal caused an uproar from residents and members of the Penobscot Indian Nation. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said in its denial that there is sufficient existing disposal capacity in the state.
The MRC, which represents 187 Maine towns that currently send trash to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington, found it could not send its residuals to Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town because PERC already sends its residuals there. The proposed MRC processing facility is competing with PERC for trash contracts with the towns beginning in 2018.
“We’ve managed to find another way,” MRC Executive Director Greg Lounder said Thursday, the day after all nine members on the MRC board voted to sign the Waste Management contract. “We’re very happy we were able to reach this agreement.”
Waste Management has agreed to take the Hampden plant’s expected 30,000 to 40,000 tons in annual residue at $47 a ton, Lounder said.
Jeff McGown, senior district manager for Waste Management, said members of the MRC board approached the company with the idea about six months ago.
In February, the MRC officially partnered with Maryland-based Fiberight LLC to create a solid waste recycling and biofuels processing facility located in the “triangle” area between Ammo Industrial Park, Interstate 95 and Coldbrook Road.
At the Hampden plant, Fiberight’s technology will change organic materials in trash into biofuels, called Trashanol, after the glass, metals, papers and plastics are recycled.
The MRC’s leaders started looking for alternatives more than five years ago because they believe that PERC, of which it is part owner, will not be profitable at the beginning of 2018 when lucrative agreements for the electric power it generates expire.
Lounder said after the recyclables are removed and the organics are turned into fuel, about 20 percent remains that needs to be landfilled, which means roughly 80 percent of what goes into the trash is reused or recycled under the MRC-Fiberight plan.
Waste Management has also agreed to provide disposal services beyond residuals, Lounder said.
If for some reason the plant is not operational by April 2018, when all the new not-yet-signed trash disposal contracts go into effect, Waste Management has agreed to take all the group’s waste. The Norridgewock waste and recycling company also has agreed to be used as a backup, if crews end up fine tuning the new processor in Hampden.
“Sometimes it takes a while to get all the kinks out,” Lounder said. “This will eliminate any service gaps.”
The cost per ton would increase to $62 for the extra disposal services, McGown said.
Robert Knudsen, vice president of operations for PERC part-owner USA Energy, described the MRC’s move “as part of the normal process of the project development,” and added PERC already has the same contract in place for residuals with Juniper Ridge.
USA Energy plans to continue to operate the incineration plant in Orrington and is offering communities a draft contract now.
USA Energy controls about 52.7 percent of the PERC plant, PERC Holdings owns 24.3 percent, and the other 23 percent is controlled by the original member towns and cities that became part of the Municipal Review Committee Inc. before 1998.