AUBURN — With negotiations for a new solid waste and recycling contract looming, Mayor Jonathan LaBonte is hoping to form a new solid waste study group.
“Having a citizens committee charged with playing an active role would be the best way to keep residents informed and engaged,” LaBonte said.
LaBonte said the seven-member committee will meet with city staff and solid waste haulers to discuss a potential new contract for trash and recycling collections and other city services.
“One thing I’m interested in is organic recycling, and that hasn’t been discussed yet,” LaBonte said. “It’s sort of the new frontier in recycling, the next piece of the waste stream that can be recycled. I’ll be encouraging the committee to bring that up.”
LaBonte said he’ll appoint seven members: one city councilor, one School Department representative, one Auburn business representative and four residents. People interested in joining the board should contact the City Clerk’s office for an application or visit the City Clerk’s page on the city’s website, www.auburnmaine.org.
LaBonte said he will approach members of the city’s previous solid waste committee. That group was appointed in 2011.
LaBonte said he plans to appoint the new committee by Sept. 9.
The city is expected to begin negotiations with Casella Solid Waste subsidiary Pine Tree Waste to collect and haul the city’s trash and recycling. A new system, using automated trash pickup and weekly recycling collections, could begin next July.
Company representatives presented a two-bin system to councilors in April. Under that system, the company would provide two heavy, lidded wheel carts — one for recycling and another for traditional household solid waste.
A single automated truck would stop at each address, with an electronic arm that picks up and empties each cart, with a RFID radio-readable computer chip tracking how much waste residents dump.
“We’ll likely be negotiating with Casella and having them play a much larger role in solid waste collection,” LaBonte said. “There are politics that often arise with Casella. It seems to me a citizens committee that could be at the table working with staff, weighing public interest, recycling and (Mid-Maine Waste Action Corporation) make sense.”
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