Solid waste disposal option surfaces for Guilford

GUILFORD – One more solid waste option may be available to Guilford.

A representative of the Mid Maine Solid Waste Facility suggested last week that an arrangement might be made for Guilford to use the Town Line Road facility in Corinna.

“I’m really excited about being asked,” Guilford Town Manager Tom Goulette said recently.

Town officials have been scrambling to find an alternative to the present transfer station on Elm Street.

After years of use, the Department of Environmental Protection notified the town late last year that the facility must close by spring because the transfer station was never approved. An alternative must be decided at the March town meeting.

Options considered to date include curbside pickup, the development of another transfer station on Blaine Avenue, or membership in the Dover-Foxcroft Regional Solid Waste Facility.

Dover-Foxcroft selectmen said they would consider Guilford’s inclusion if an engineering study, conducted and funded by Guilford, found the move beneficial to the Dover-Foxcroft Regional Solid Waste Facility. Even if the study was favorable for the town’s inclusion, there is no guarantee that Dover-Foxcroft voters would support the move, according to Goulette.

In preparation for the new site option, the town plans to seek a master plan permit for the Pike’s Garage property on Blaine Avenue. Four different designs have been developed for the property, for which the town has an option. Goulette said the master plan addresses solid waste, recycling and a sand-salt shed. If the full plan were to be implemented all at once it would cost about $500,000, he said. However, he said, the scope of the work would not likely be done all in one year.

Goulette believes curbside pickup would be a scheduling nightmare, and would require more employees and more equipment.

The possibility of using the Corinna facility would provide residents with another choice, Goulette said. “I’m just impressed with their willingness to work with us to search for a solution,” he said.

Mid Maine Solid Waste officials plan to meet today to discuss the matter further among themselves, according to Jim Silverman, facility manager. He said his board would review the materials submitted by Goulette.

“We’ve got the capacity to handle more [solid waste],” Silverman said. The town lost about 700 tons of solid waste a year when Dexter Shoe Co. closed its manufacturing operations. Guilford’s estimated annual solid waste tonnage of 1,247 would help, he said. An estimated 270 tons of demolition debris and 85 tons of scrap metals also are produced by Guilford, he said.

Silverman said the facility hauls its waste to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington where a tipping fee of about $60 per ton is paid.

Goulette said he visited the facility on the Dexter-Corinna town line, which is 15 miles from Guilford, last week and was amazed that it was so well maintained and operated.

Goulette said he just wants “to end up with the best solution for everybody.”