When it comes to protecting the environment, Guilford of Maine wrote the textbook.

Based alongside the Piscataquis River in Guilford, the company implements what it calls the three Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. According to Vincent J. Stakutis, director of environmental affairs, Guilford of Maine is pursuing the ultimate three R strategy: discharge no pollutants to the environment at all.

When Guilford of Maine opened as a textile manufacturer years ago, little thought was given to environmental protection. Textile mills, paper mills, and shoe shops discharged directly to the nearest stream or river. Coal- or wood-fired boilers spilled smoke and hydrocarbons into the air.

The resultant environmental degradation seems a fantasy today. Rivers that stank during low summer flows, smoky air that settled near the surface during weather inversions, rivers not swimmable, fish not edible: The public would not tolerate such pollution now.

And neither would Guilford of Maine, which launched its own environmental protection programs more than 15 years ago.

The immediate result in Piscataquis County was the Guilford-Sangerville Sanitary District, which operates a wastewater treatment plant in Guilford. Years ago, Harold Melvin, the Guilford of Maine controller, “had the vision that one treatment plant should be built for everyone,” said Frank Ruksznis, the GSSD manager. “He thought it was foolish to build a separate plant for Guilford, another for Sangerville, and a third for the company.”

The treatment plant, located off Route 15 south of Guilford, its lagoons visible from the new Guilford of Maine yarn plant, cleans the 400,000 gallons per day generated by people living in the built-up sections of Guilford and Sangerville and by Guilford of Maine, which produces about three-quarters of the daily flow.

Wastewater flows through four lagoons with a combined treatment capability of 1 million gallons per day. Three hundred fine-bubble air diffusers located in the lagoons provide oxygen for aerobic bacteria that eat the organic material in the wastewater.

Dead and dying bacteria and inorganic material form sludge that collects in the lagoons. Three years ago, the GSSD launched a pilot study to learn if reed beds could effectively treat sludge. Sludge is now pumped from Lagoon 2 to a 450-square-foot reed bed filled with cat tails and phragmites, which are tall reeds.

The plants draw nutrients and water from the sludge settling in the reed bed; remaining water runs back to Lagoon 3. The study has shown that reed beds can effectively treat sludge produced in treatment plants like Guilford’s, Ruksznis said.

He and Stakutis indicated a desire to build a larger reed bed, possibly up to 10,000 square feet in size. Stakutis wants to apply for a capital expenditure by Guilford of Maine to pay for the expanded reed bed.

After secondary treatment in the lagoons, wastewater is chlorinated to kill any bacteria and then treated with sulfur dioxide to remove residual chlorine. The effluent discharges to the Piscataquis River.

Some effluent may soon go elsewhere. A proposal before the GSSD directors would let the Piscataquis Country Club, a neighbor of the treatment plant, draw off treated effluent to irrigate its greens and tees. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection will review the application to implement this practice.

A symbiotic relationship has developed between Guilford of Maine and the GSSD, according to Stakutis and Ruksznis. Without a municipal treatment plant, the textile manufacturer would have to run its own treatment plant. Without a technical expertise provided by Guilford of Maine, the GSSD would have to hire that same help at a high cost.

“We realized years ago we need each other,” Ruksznis said. “They help us in invaluable ways.”

“Guilford (of Maine) receives optimum wastewater treatment,” Stakutis said. “This is a big benefit for us. The cost of operating a treatment plant just for ourselves would be great; by sharing costs with the towns, we achieve the same result at an affordable price.”

Before discharging wastewater to the collection system, Guilford of Maine screens its effluent and then blends the different sources in a 112,000-gallon tank. This mixing adjusts the pH to 6.5 to 7.5, a comfortable range for effective treatment at the Guilford-Sangerville facility.

“We make sure before anything leaves here for there, it’s as treatable as we can make it,” Stakutis said.

While able to develop an excellent relationship with a municipal wastewater treatment system in Maine, Guilford of Maine has pursued a different route at a corporate facility in East Douglas, Mass. Guilford discussed with several area municipalities the possibility of building a joint treatment plant. Prohibitive costs for land acquisition and sewer installation doomed the proposal; Guilford of Maine is building its own 1.2 MGD (million gallons per day) treatment plant.

This facility treats 400,000 gallons of wastewater per day and produces 16 tons of biosolids (sludge) per week. The biosolids are sent to the Mass Natural Fertilizer Corp., which composts it with poultry waste and other waste products to make a topsoil.

The East Douglas treatment plant and manufacturing facility are located on the Mumford River. Upstream from the GOM facilities are two reservoirs and three dams, which until Guilford of Maine acquired the manufacturing facility were essentially left unattended.

The company now manages the dams and reservoirs for “use by our mill and by the people, the boaters and water-skiers and such, who like to recreate on the river,” Stakutis said. The actual physical facilities are known as Hydro Projects North, and the water-management program affects the Mumford watershed.

To prevent any potential pollution to the river, Guilford has all but eliminated the discharge of phosphorous, which is known to cause algae blooms.

At all its facilities, from Michigan to Maine, Guilford of Maine stresses recycling. For example, the company recycles used fabrics and other scrap and sells surplus dyes (already environmental friendly) to independent jobbers.

At its Guilford plant, GOM recycles waste paper, batteries, fluorescent light bulbs, and “everything and anything that can be recycled,” Stakutis said. Wooden pallets are returned to GOM suppliers. Deactivated machines and other metals are sold for scrap. The company even produces a contract fabric, Ecodeme, from recycled plastic (primarily from soda bottles).

In the future, Guilford of Maine will push to eliminate all discharges to the environment, Stakutis noted. The goal is expansive, he said, but can be accomplished.

“I consider us an environmental leader, especially in our industry in the Northeast,” Stakutis said. “We’re proving it can be done.”