WATERVILLE — Residents will likely have a new place to take recyclables July 1 — at no cost to the city — if councilors authorize City Manager Michael Roy to work out a deal with a private recycling firm Tuesday.

Roy said Monday that councilors will be asked to allow the firm, Shredding on Site, to establish a recycling drop-off program for residents at 46 Armory Road. The program would be similar to the one Skills Recycling operates now and is only about 100 hundred yards from the Skills center.

Skills Recycling, on Industrial Park Road, announced recently that it will stop taking paper, plastic, cans and glass as of July 1. The city has paid Skills $12,500 a year for residents to recycle there.

Shredding on Site owner Craig Lefebvre would accept recyclable products including newspaper, mixed paper, cardboard, plastics, tin and glass at the new site.

Currently, Lefebvre picks up and recycles all sorts of materials from all over the state. He said he is confident he can handle the city’s recyclables.

“I’ve been doing it for 18 years,” Lefebvre said. “I’m sure it’s going to work great. It’s not a hard thing for us to take over.”

Advertisement

Roy said he thinks the transition will work well.

“We do recommend going with the Shredding on Site proposal for a number of reasons,” Roy said. “Probably most importantly, it’s very close to our current site and the setup for the recycling will be pretty much identical to the way it is today and at the present time; there’s no cost for it, so we certainly would like to try that option out.”

Public Works Director Mark Turner said Monday that the city wants to try the recycling option for a year and see how it goes.

“In the next five weeks, we’ll be setting everything up and we’ll be ready to on July 1,” Turner said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for Shredding on Site  because they’re going to broaden their line of products for recycling. The benefit to the residents is that it’s convenient because of its location, and it’s free.”

Skills’ chief executive officer, Thomas Davis, said the nonprofit organization has lost more than $400,000 on recycling operations in the last six years and expects to lose between $90,000 and $100,000 this year.

Skills will continue to take computers, televisions and other electronic items at the center.

In other council matters tonight, councilors are expected to take final votes to approve a proposed $20.3 million school budget for 2013-14 and consider approving a contract for repairing Pine Grove Cemetery chapel.

The meeting will be at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at The Center downtown.

Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.