OLD ORCHARD BEACH — Town officials in Old Orchard Beach are urging residents to be more careful about what they put in their recycling bins.

The town, like several other municipalities in the state, contracts with Ecomaine to process its recyclables. Recyclables are picked up weekly at homes, and those who live in apartment or condominium buildings or mobile home parks can drop off recycling at bins across from the town’s public works garage.

Town Manager Larry Mead said at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting that while recycling is beneficial for the environment, it has also helped keep costs down for the town as disposal is $75 a ton for trash and free for recyclables.

However, he said, “This free ride, I think is about to end.” Ecomaine is now having to pay to get rid of its materials instead of getting paid for them, and is passing that cost on to their municipal customers.

Ecomaine CEO Kevin Roche said in a recent press release that current recycling market conditions have resulted in Ecomaine paying $60 per ton to send post-consumer paper to markets in India, Vietnam and Indonesia. A year ago, the company was paid $100 a ton to send the paper to these markets.

“The current recycling market conditions are global in nature,” Roche said. “The primary contributors to this collapse are the decline in newspaper production, a severe restriction on allowable contamination percentages by importers — particularly China — and high levels of contamination in the recycling stream.”

To address the issue of contamination, or non-recyclable materials, in recycling streams, ecomaine has added staff to the sorting lines, slowed down production lines to remove non-recyclable items, and is researching new technologies to assist in removing contamination.

Ecomaine is also charging up to $70 a ton for processing fees, depending on fluctuations in the market. It also may fine municipalities who have more than 5 percent of non-recyclable material in their recycling stream up to $70.50 per ton, according to the ecomaine press release.

Mead encouraged those who recycle to take the time to go to the town’s website or the ecomaine website to learn what can and cannot be recycled. He said many people have been unknowingly putting items in the recycling bins that aren’t recyclable.

“We need everyone who puts out recycling to pay close attention to what they include in their recycling bin,” said Mead.
Items that can be recycled include paper, magazines, newspapers, clean cardboard, milk cartons, plastic rigid containers, metal cans and glass bottles and jars. Items that can not be recycled include plastic bags, paper towels, Styrofoam and plastic utensils.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected]