Buckfield-Sumner abandons recycling proposal

BUCKFIELD — The possibility of converting the Buckfield-Sumner Transfer Station to single-stream recycling has been abandoned by a group tasked with examining the proposal.

At its first and only meeting October 18, the SSR Task Force determined switching to SSR cost too much, involved too little savings and had too many unforeseeable complications.

SSR systems allow users to put all their recyclables in the same container at the transfer station, instead of dividing them into different bins.

In some municipalities, the process saves time and money, but the task force determined switching to SSR was inappropriate for the Buckfield-Sumner Transfer station.

According to minutes for the October 18 meeting, Buckfield Town Manager Dana Lee offered the task force a financial analysis that indicated the $21,000 in savings from SSR estimated by recycling firm EcoMaine "did not make sense."

According to Lee, if there were any savings, it would be in the $2,000 to $4,000 range.

Lee further reported that preparing the transfer station for SSR, including installing a new compactor, earthwork and electrical work could cost at least $50,000.

He estimated a 15-year return on investment when switching to SSR.

The task force decided space at the transfer station was also an issue – the layout of the transfer station would have to be altered to allow trucks to reach the SSR compactor.

The group also found that the amount of recyclables the transfer station handles per year, 90 tons, would probably only rise 10 percent due to ease of SSR.

The low disposal cost charged to the towns at Mid-Maine Waste Action Corporation also didn't make the proposal more attractive.

Furthermore, the towns own a share in MMWAC, so switching to EcoMaine, which would bite into MMWAC's revenue, could hurt the towns.

Lee explained the task force's decision during the November 6 Buckfield Selectboard meeting.

"We don't do the quantity of waste that would warrant the investment needed to put in another compactor unit," Lee told the board.

"The task force met and folded up the same evening and said 'we're not there yet and we may not be for quite some time' so we'll be carrying on the way we've been going."