BETHEL – Residents of Bethel, Newry and Hanover will get a cleaner, safer, more convenient way to dispose of household trash and construction debris.

But only if voters in the three towns approve a proposed transfer station upgrade anticipated to cost under $200,000.

“If the people support it, we’ll go right into action and start signing contracts,” said Bethel Town Manager Scott Cole. Construction would be completed by early fall.

At Thursday afternoon’s meeting of the Tri-Town Solid Waste Committee, retired Bethel engineer Scott Hynek presented the project.

Hynek was tasked with improving throughput of waste at the transfer station in Bethel, minimizing total upgrade costs, and using the existing site to meet current demands plus 30 percent.

“I think it’s a foregone conclusion that the volume of solid waste in the three towns will increase,” Cole said.

Newry Administrative Assistant Sylvia Gray thought so, too.

Major subdivision developments are either under way or quickly coming in Newry and Bethel.

Cole said the upgrade consists of replacing 12 rusted-out flip-top Dumpsters at the transfer station with two stationary hoppers for $9,000. The hoppers are to be connected to roll-off containers that cost $13,400 and compacting units that cost $44,000.

“A single 50-yard compaction container holds more than all of our rear-load Dumpsters,” Hynek said, explaining why the three towns should switch to compactors.

Another goal involves switching to a throw-down system for construction debris, shingles and metals, and putting a roof over it to eliminate precipitation, Cole said.

“Let’s not continue to ship rain and snow to Biddeford at $96 per ton,” Hynek said.

Currently, waste from the three towns is trucked by Pine Tree Waste to Maine Energy Recovery Corp. in Biddeford where it’s incinerated.

Bethel contributes 2,800 tons a year, although not all of it is deposited at the transfer station. The town also does curbside trash collections.

Of the current $373,000 municipal solid waste budget for the three towns, Bethel’s waste accounts for $259,000 of the total, Cole said.

“Undoubtedly, the operational costs year to year will go down slightly, because of changes, but we can’t guarantee nor even claim that the overall capital costs will be justified by the operation’s savings,” Cole added.

But the proposed project won’t happen unless voters at Newry’s March 1 town meeting OK the project.

Then Bethel voters get to decide at their town meeting on June 9, while “Hanover is flexible,” Powell said, meaning they could ask for a vote before their town meeting in November.

“If Newry cans it, the project will be moot for 2004, but, I suspect, we’d still discuss it in our budget review,” he added.

Rough estimates of the three towns’ proportionate cost shares had Bethel paying 54 percent, Newry 37 percent, and Hanover 9 percent.

The committee is expected to continue discussing the project while firming up its 2004 Project Budget at another meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, in the municipal building.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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