Van Buren officials suspect trash burning > Drop in Van Buren’s landfill haul cited

VAN BUREN — A plunge in the tonnage of trash Van Buren is hauling to the landfill, no significant increase in recycling center traffic and a sharp rise in burn permits issued here suggest that waste that otherwise would be recycled might be going up in smoke.

After being ordered by the state to close its local landfill, Van Buren in January entered a $50-per-ton contract with Tri-Community Recycling and Sanitary Landfill directors. When the contract was negotiated, the town estimated it would haul 1,500 tons of trash a year (125 tons a month) to the Fort Fairfield landfill.

Concerns about the effect that tipping and hauling fees might have on the town budget led to the establishment of a user fee to encourage people to recycle and to place waste disposal costs directly on those who generate it.

The user fee, which began in March, requires those who take trash to the towns’ recycling center to pay fees of from 75 cents to $2.25 a bag, depending on the size.

A subsequent drop in the amount of trash discarded by residents was the subject of some discussion by Tri-Community officials at a board meeting Wednesday.

Tri-Community’s billing records show that in February, the last fee-free month, Van Buren sent 114 tons of trash to Fort Fairfield. Tonnage figures from March through June show a marked decrease. In March, the trash total was 100.8 tons; in April, 101.06 tons; May, 90.47 tons; and June, 86.9 tons.

“Van Buren’s revenues were only 40 percent for six months through the year,” said Executive Director Kenneth Hensler. “I indicated that there is a lot more behind that than meets the eye. I wish I could tell you that it was a progressive recycling program in Van Buren, but I don’t think that is the case. The recycling business has not picked up at all.”

“As you know, Van Buren went on a pay-per-bag system,” he said. “What we think has happened is they are doing some bag cramming. Big bags.” He said a Van Buren sheet metal fabricator was doing a brisk trade in burn barrels, “so people in Van Buren are burning their own trash in their back yards…”

“There’s no such thing as burning garbage,” said Van Buren fire Chief Chanel Bouchard. “The only thing you can (legally) burn in an incinerator are paper, cardboard and wood. You can’t burn plastic, rags, tar paper, rubber products or household products.”

Bouchard also said there had been a sharp increase in requests for burn permits since the user fees went into effect.

“There were 108 (requests) in the week when it first started,” he said. “Now, it’s slowing down some.” He once got a few requests a week, but since March, Bouchard said, he has issued at least 300 permits.

Later Wednesday, Hensler said that Tri-Community and Van Buren enjoyed a good working relationship and that discussion over Van Buren’s trash trend was not made in a negative vein. He also said that the landfill board’s concern was somwehat alleviated by the fact that the 10 percent shortfall in revenue from Van Buren had been more than offset by other communities which hauled more than they had projected.

“Another concern I had was that we don’t have an effective way of monitoring (landfill) traffic. Are Van Buren residents themselves coming to the landfill? We have no way to know,” he said. The landfill board will hire a temporary gatekeeper to perform that function.

Hensler said Tri-Community’s contract prohibits Van Buren residents from hauling their own trash to the landfill. Only residents in Fort Fairfield, Limestone and Caribou, and the first nine towns to join the district, have that privilege.

Van Buren Highway Department Foreman Donald Dumond said it is unlikely that many people from Van Buren would haul their own trash to Fort Fairfield, but acknowledged that there had been no increase in recycled materials other than glass.

“I think people are burning more,” he said. “More people are trying to take care of their own (waste). There have been a lot of permits.”

Bouchard said permit holders were liable for damage that might result from burning, even if they followed the rules. Permits can be revoked if neighbors complain about smoke or odor.