MDI may create transfer station to lower costs

MOUNT DESERT – The future of trash on Mount Desert Island might be about to change.

Tony Smith, chairman of the Acadia Disposal District and public works director for the town of Mount Desert, waxed enthusiastic Thursday about the potential benefits of a proposal to have the district create its own transfer station and recycling center on one of two undeveloped parcels of land in Trenton.

“Garbage is big money and always has been and always will be,” he said. “The money’s to be made, so to speak, in the sale of recyclables. That would offset our operating costs.”

The Acadia Disposal District was formed two years ago to seek out cost-effective and environmentally sound solid waste collection and disposal for its five member towns, Mount Desert, Cranberry Isles, Tremont, Trenton and Southwest Harbor.

The towns now pay roughly $400,000 each year to EMR, Inc., a privately owned for-profit transfer station in Southwest Harbor.

Much of the 7,200 tons of garbage the towns dump at the transfer station each year is trucked up to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. in Orrington, where it is burned to generate power.

The towns also pay to have EMR, Inc. recycle items like cardboard, which can then be sold at the current going rate of $50 to $70 per ton, Smith said.

Though having the municipalities band together in the nonprofit disposal district has helped them to achieve more efficiency and buying and negotiating power for their solid waste disposal, Smith and others in the district think that operating their own transfer station would ultimately be more cost-effective for the towns.

“A private entity generates a profit,” he said of EMR, Inc. “We just think we can take the portion that goes into their pockets to lower our rates.”

The district now is in the process of having a civil engineering firm survey the two proposed Trenton parcels – a 240-acre site located off Route 3 and a 150-acre site located behind the Trenton Industrial Park – to ascertain the suitability of each as a transfer and recycling station.

Acadia Disposal District officials are interested in a long-term lease on a parcel of land rather than buying the parcel outright.

If a site can be found and a lease arranged, officials hope to have the planned transfer station up and running in two years.

Its expected price tag of $2 million to $2.5 million would pay for the costs of permitting, design and construction.

Though Smith said that he anticipates public opposition, the planned transfer station would be designed to minimize smell and maximize usefulness to member towns.

“The household trash will all be inside to keep smell down and eliminate vermin problems,” he said. “The garbage isn’t going to hang around long and get a chance to go septic, stinky.”

The facility would accommodate wood waste, household trash, metals, tires, construction and demolition debris and household hazardous waste and universal waste such as thermometers with mercury, computers, paints, paint thinner, brake fluid, anti-freeze, gasoline and oil.

Leaves and yard clippings would be composted at the site.

If the proposed station and recycling center comes to fruition, Smith said that it would accept other customers and offset its costs that way.

“We would take solid waste from anybody,” he said.

The potential benefits of a publicly-owned transfer station could stretch well into the future, Smith said.

“We can address future changes in solid waste regulations more cost-effectively than if we’re dealing with private entities,” he said.