Was Casella dishonest with Waterford by claiming they have a new facility in Lewiston?

My opinion is “yes.”

A recent task of the Lewiston Solid Waste Committee was to discuss and vote on a recommendation to the city council to extend the contract for solid waste and recycling curbside pick-up. We voted to recommend the extension of the contract which would allow Lewiston to take advantage of a clause to save taxpayers money, while allowing Casella a 4 to 6 percent increase for inflation.

It is also important to note that some members were very concerned about Casella’s intent to bring unusable single-stream recyclables into the facility for transfer to their Massachusetts-based operation, without apparent consent or knowledge of Lewiston. It is important to note that only Casella would have profited on the deal, and neither Waterford nor Lewiston would have made a dime.

We are already a regional recycling center and would welcome any newcomer.

Unfortunately, Waterford was convinced to purchase a compactor, which made its recyclables unusable for Lewiston’s facility because it can only accept sorted recyclables.

Interestingly, Beth Young, the Casella representative who had been attending the committee meetings and gave Waterford the ill-advised information, did not show up to answer individual committee member concerns about Waterford. City staff are tight-lipped about my questions and would only say the city administrator was handling the Waterford issue.

Dan Gregoire, Lewiston

Member, Lewiston Solid Waste Committee