LEWISTON – State and town officials blame some private trash haulers for a decline in recycling.
They claim those haulers bypass transfer stations and haul refuse – including recyclables – to regional incinerators.
Several private haulers disagree, saying that’s not their practice.
A report released by the State Planning Office this month shows a 9 percent increase in solid waste generated between 2001 and 2003. The state had sought to decrease waste by 5 percent during the same period.
Meanwhile, the statewide recycling rate dropped from 37.3 percent in 2001 to 35.5 percent in 2003.
“Private haulers play a significant role in the collection of trash,” said Hank Tyler, a senior planner with the State Planning Office.
“My hunch is in towns in your area (Androscoggin and Oxford counties) where private haulers pick up a lot of the trash, there’s not an incentive to recycle,” he said.
Sabattus Transfer Station Supervisor Jerry Sabins agrees that private haulers bypassing transfer stations contributes to a decrease in the percentage of waste that’s recycled.
“Sabattus has a mandatory recycling law, and we do keep after the people. In 2003, our recycling was 42 percent. In 2004, it went up to 44 percent. You’ve also got to take into consideration that we’re also recycling Sheetrock now,” Sabins said.
Marie Bartlett, public education director of the Oxford County Regional Solid Waste Corp., said recycling rates for the 19-member towns increased by 8,200 tons from 2003 to 2004. But she also agrees that some private haulers are bypassing transfer stations and contributing to the decline in recycling overall.
“Along with the garbage is a lot of recyclables,” Bartlett said.
Some towns have contracts with haulers that require recyclables to be taken to transfer stations.
John Morin, manager of Almighty Waste of Auburn, said his company and several others do recycle. “It costs more when you haul to an incinerator. You’ve got to pay for tipping and disposal. Anything that we can do to recycle, we do,” he said.
Almighty Waste and several other haulers take recyclables to Earthlink, a recycling business in Lewiston.
Curbside trash pickup in rural towns is blamed for part of the problem.
“I don’t know who’s dumping recyclables at the burn plant unless it’s curbside,” said Earthlink owner John Paul LaBelle.
One private hauler in Androscoggin County, asking not to be identified, said it is virtually impossible to recycle from a packer truck. Now, at transfer stations, “everything is containerized. Back when we had landfills, you would dump everything on the ground and go from there.”
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