NORWAY – Norway-Paris Solid Waste is now considering sharing services with Oxford County Regional Solid Waste.
As a result, the Norway-Paris agency’s consideration of hiring a private contractor to run the Brown Street transfer station is on hold.
The boards of directors of each group met Wednesday in the Norway Town Office and agreed to look at whether jointly collecting waste and recyclables would save money for the local towns.
Wayne Hakala of the regional solid waste board said the organizations should consider everything from buying a grinder to chip wood to increasing household hazardous waste collection.
“There’s a number of things that need to be worked out – we’re looking at a pipe dream right here,” he said. “But that’s what the recycling corporation was back a number of years ago.”
Paris Board of Selectmen member Barbara Payne was at the meeting Wednesday and asked Hakala whether his long-range goal was “to fold Norway-Paris Solid Waste and Oxford County recycling all into one, to make it regional?”
Hakala said there is no long-range plan for consolidation, but urged Payne to keep an open mind.
Norway Town Manager David Holt suggested establishing contracts between the groups instead of consolidating each into one organization.
For instance, Norway-Paris Solid Waste could sign a contract with Oxford County Regional Waste to run the Brown Street transfer station, he said.
The meeting began at 7 p.m. By 8:30 p.m., it was decided that members of both boards would research whether towns would benefit if services were combined or expanded in areas including general solid waste collection, hazardous materials collection and even the processing of stumps, building demolition waste and tires.
After the meeting, Eric Grondahl of Norway-Paris Solid Waste said that plans for researching the hiring of an outside company to run the dump, which his board had been considering to save money, are “on hold” indefinitely while the current talks continue.
The group will meet again at 7 p.m. June 29 at the Norway Town Office.
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