Ashland to consider waste incineration

ASHLAND — Details of a plan to dispose of solid waste by incineration at the local electrical generation plant will be presented at a public meeting in early May.

Jim Collins, Ashland town manager, said Tuesday the plan is the result of a yearlong effort by the town; James Barresi, president of the Matane Corp. of Washburn; and by officials with the Alternative Energy Corp. of Bangor.

The project would involve collecting and burning northern Maine’s solid waste and using the heat from the incineration process to dry out wood chips, bark and sawdust. The dried wood waste in turn would be used to fuel the energy plant in Ashland.

Collins said the per-ton cost in the plan compared favorably with landfills now accepting the solid waste. Some of the waste also is being trucked to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington.

“We are keeping the county problem within the county and we feel that burning the solid waste to heat the wood chips, bark and sawdust at the energy plant would be a much more efficient method of disposal than piling it in a landfill,” said Collins.