Waterville probably will take its solid waste to the Crossroads landfill in Norridgewock rather than go with a new waste-to-energy plant in Hampden, following a recommendation by the city’s solid waste committee.
Fred Stubbert, the committee’s chairman, said taking trash to the landfill once the city’s contract with Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. ends in 2018 is “by far” the best economic choice for the city. The City Council will hear the recommendation Tuesday night.
The city had until Sunday to decide if it was going to sign on with waste-to-energy plant Fiberight, an option recommended by the Municipal Review Committee, which represents the 180 communities that take their solid waste to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington.
In early 2018 the contract with PERC expires, as does PERC’s agreement with Emera Maine, which buys electricity from the company at above-market rates, and member communities. The Municipal Review Committee, the group that represents communities — including Waterville — that send their waste to PERC, says fees to take trash to the incinerator will be too expensive after 2018. The MRC pushed the plan to partner with Maryland firm Fiberight, an option some area communities, such as Oakland and China, are taking advantage of.
But others, such as Waterville and Fairfield, are finding other solutions.
In general, Stubbert said, the city would pay about a $60 per ton tipping fee at the landfill as opposed to an estimated $80 to 90 at Fiberight. He said remaining with PERC would have been even more expensive.
“It was a really, really good committee and we looked at all the options in great detail,” Stubbert said Friday afternoon. “We went over everything. And the economics were clearly in favor of Norridgewock.”
He said the committee, which was formed about a year ago, will disband now that the decision has been made. It included himself, three city councilors and a number of area residents with expertise on the topic.
While the change won’t be made until March 2018, when the PERC contract runs out, Stubbert said the City Council probably will vote Tuesday on whether to approve the recommendation.
Since the city had to let the MRC know by Sunday — May 1 — whether it was joining Fiberight, “it’s the polite thing to do” even though telling the organization that the city is opting out isn’t required.
Stubbert said he’s also skeptical about Fiberight’s business plan, which calls for burning the organics and selling the recyclables to a market that’s flooded with them. The plan’s economics include assumptions about selling the recyclables as well as the gas produced. “Everything has to go perfectly, and none of those are safe assumptions,” he said.
He said the recommendation is that the city sign a five-year contract with the Norridgewock landfill, and because waste disposal technology is changing so much that better options might be available when that expires, or the city probably can renew it.
Waterville also has about $2 million tied up in the MRC stabilization fund that would come back to the city once it pulls out of MRC.
City Manager Mike Roy said Thursday the council would vote formally on a waste disposal plan next year as part of the 2017-18 budget.
The Oakland Town Council voted unanimously in March to sign a 15-year agreement with Fiberight.
“We actually have a chance here to have some new technology come into the state of Maine,” Town Manager Gary Bowman said at the time.
Voters at the Town Meeting in China last month agreed to let the Select Board sign an agreement with Fiberight after MRC Executive Director Greg Lounder told attendees that so far more than 50 communities had committed roughly 64,000 tons for the Hampden plant. In order for the plan to work financially, the MRC and Fiberight need enough towns and cities to commit by May to send at least 150,000 tons annually to the new plant, Lounder said.
But Fairfield officials agreed in February also to start taking the town’s waste to the Norridgewock landfill, one of many options the town, which uses private trash haulers, is considering for then the PERC contract expires.
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