OLD TOWN – Juniper Ridge Landfill now will be open on Saturday and Sunday, according to a letter sent to residents, city and state officials by the landfill operator.

Landfill officials are preparing for the facility to become fully operational and accept the maximum amount of waste the site is permitted for.

“Basically we’re gearing up to handle the majority of waste that can come into the landfill because we are pretty much done with the mixing process of the old Georgia-Pacific sludge,” Casella Waste Systems Inc. Environmental Manager Tom Gilbert said Tuesday.

The landfill took in about 4,500 tons of waste in January 2005, and that number increased to more than 40,000 tons disposed of at the site this past January.

But some residents are upset about the change in hours, which is something they said Casella promised wouldn’t happen when the facility was being permitted.

“It just seems like they do whatever the heck they want,” Old Town resident Ed Spencer said of Casella at Monday night’s council meeting.

The state bought the landfill site from Georgia-Pacific Corp. last year for $26 million and chose Casella to operate it. The three-way West Old Town Landfill deal among the state, G-P and Casella was designed to keep G-P’s Old Town paper mill open while addressing the state’s waste disposal problem.

The landfill previously had been used by G-P to dispose of mill sludge.

The facility hasn’t been in full operation since the state Department of Environmental Protection issued the original license April 9, 2004, because Casella was creating test plots to see which ratio of mill sludge, ash and waste must be mixed to create a stable landfill.

Attempts to appeal the DEP’s approval of the project have been unsuccessful, but continue.

In an effort to notify DEP, town officials, and local residents of the change in hours, Gilbert sent out a letter last month stating that as of Feb. 13, the hours of operation would be Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

City Councilor Linda McLeod responded on Monday to concerns expressed by Spencer and resident Charles Leithiser by saying that originally, the company had said it would operate Monday through Friday during daylight hours.

“Going Saturday and Sunday to me just is breaking all the common-sense rules,” she said. “To me, adding Saturday and Sunday is not part of the deal.”

Gilbert explained Tuesday in a phone interview that while Sunday wasn’t included in the original operating manual, it was noted all along that once the landfill became fully operational, weekend hours would be necessary.

“The original amended permit stated that this would be a 24-hour-a-day operation like Hampden [Pine Tree Landfill] at some point,” Gilbert said.

All in-state waste that previously was accepted at Pine Tree now will go to Juniper Ridge. The addition to operating hours at Old Town means that Hampden no longer will be open on Sundays.

“It’s not anything outside of what we’re allowed to do,” Gilbert said.