LEWISTON – More recycling, no out-of-state garbage and limits on construction debris are all parts of a new landfill plan being considered by city officials.

Casella Waste Systems would pay the city up $2.5 million the first year to take over management of the Lewiston landfill, plus pay a minimum of $800,000 per year in monitoring and host fees.

Casella would take over the KTI Biofuels incineration facility off of Plourde Parkway and convert it into a sorting facility for construction and demolition debris within four years, according to City Administrator Jim Bennett.

Most of all, the deal would have to be approved by the Lewiston City Council, Lewiston’s voters and the state before it would become active.

Councilors handed off the plan to the city’s Solid Waste Task Force for a review. Members said Tuesday that they’d meet at least twice to go over the plan and report back to councilors this summer.

“It’s a very different deal than we’ve offered before,” Bennett told the City Council on Tuesday night.

Councilors approved an agreement with Casella in 2005 that would have hired the company to manage the landfill. State environmental officials put a halt to that proposal last year, fearing it would bring out-of-state garbage into Lewiston’s landfill.

“This deal avoids that completely,” Bennett said. “That’s an early punch line for everybody to focus on – this brings no new municipal solid waste to Lewiston.”

Only locally generated household waste would go into the landfill, and that would be limited. Lewiston’s deal with the Mid-Maine Waste Action Corp. would continue, according to the agreement.

But Casella would be able to bring in up to 312,000 tons of construction debris per year. That could come directly from out-of-state for four years, until the new Plourde Parkway sorting facility was open.

“After that, there would be no out-of-state waste allowed in the landfill,” Bennett said.

The agreement would require Casella subsidiary Pine Tree Waste to offer single-stream recycling for Lewiston’s residents. That would allow people to put all of their recycling into a single container for collections. It would be taken to a Pine Tree facility for sorting.

It also encourages the company to offer some sort of recycling bank within two years. That would give customers credits toward local business gift certificates for recycling.