HAMPDEN, Maine — Hampden became the third Maine community to sign a 15-year contract to send its solid waste to the Municipal Review Committee’s planned trash-to-energy facility in Hampden starting in 2018.
Hampden town councilors’ decision to that end was 7-0, Mayor David Ryder and Deputy Mayor Greg Sirois said Tuesday.
In February 2015, 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.
Brewer was first to sign on to send waste to the Hampden plant when the Brewer City Council approved a contract with MRC on Jan. 26. Bar Harbor was second, voting to join on Feb. 16.
Although Hampden stands to benefit from being the plant’s host community, Monday night’s vote followed months of scrutiny of MRC’s plan as well as that put forth by the majority owners of Penobscot Energy Recovery Corp.’s plant in Orrington, which now incinerates solid waste to produce electricity.
Ryder credited councilors Ivan McPike and Terry McAvoy with gathering much of the information that led to Monday night’s vote.