BRUNSWICK —Townwide recycling costs skyrocketed from $40 per ton to $120 per ton during last year’s budget cycle. As another, considerably higher, budget season looms, the town council is looking to avoid another $138,000 recycling increase. But after eight months of work, the Brunswick Recycling and Sustainability Committee presented a framework for long- and short-term goals to improve townwide waste management that town councilor David Watson said “doesn’t meet” his expectations.
“I’m a little concerned that you’re not providing us with the information we need to help the manager on contract negotiations for waste removal,” Watson said.
Other councilors also expressed reservations about moving into the budget season and negotiations without a clearer plan, though the committee hopes to be back before the council again by May at the latest.
Trash is cleared at the Graham Road Landfill in Brunswick. (Times Record File Photo)
Councilor Dan Ankeles agreed there was some time pressure, and said he hoped they wouldn’t squander an opportunity by making decisions before they had all the information.
Brunswick recycles with Pine Tree Waste, which provides weekly curbside collection of trash and recyclables under a one-year contract through the end of June, with two one-year extensions. Residents can also drop off recyclables at the Graham Road landfill for free. However, the landfill is slated to close in April 2021, and Town Manager John Eldridge will soon enter contract negotiations with waste removal services.
Commercial establishments can drop off recyclables at Pine Tree’s facility in West Bath for a fee.
The town previously had a flat rate for recyclables, but Pine Tree recently altered the cost structure to a variable rate.
In June, faced with the dramatic price increases for recycling, town officials tasked the committee with identifying options beyond the current method of residential curbside collection.
In September, the committee recommended that the town continue curbside collection of recyclables under, but also launch a “comprehensive waste reduction and education program.”
The council asked the committee to develop a framework to help develop a plan that’s both environmentally and economically sustainable.
According to committee chair Jennifer Hicks, they tried to make the plan “as forward-thinking and useful as possible for it doesn’t turn into a relic” as times and markets change.
The plan identifies the need for a short term solid waste management transition plan after the town closes the landfill, as well as a long term plan that will help Brunswick move toward a “zero waste future,” reduces the total tons of waste and stabilizes the costs.
The committee recommended the town follow focus first on reduction, then on reuse, followed by composting, waste to energy and then the landfill. Waste should be separated in the homes and businesses in order to be effective, Hicks said.
The town should also launch a public education campaign, working with the schools, commercial sector, waste management vendors, and the community through visits and public workshops.
Organics management, or composting, should also be prioritized in the community.
A problem beyond Brunswick
In 2017, the Chinese government decided to stop taking highly contaminated recycling from the United States and placed restrictions on certain recyclables, accepting materials with only 0.5% contamination, a drastic decrease from its previous 40%. Comparatively, the industry standard for contamination is around 5%, according to Matt Grondin, communications manager for recycling company ecomaine.
“As much as we wish it weren’t the case, not everything is recyclable,” Grondin said earlier. Items like paper, cardboard, plastic, metal and glass can be repurposed in the marketplace, while things like soccer balls, garden hoses and chains cannot. When those items and others that are not in demand, find their way into the recycling stream it drives the rates up.
This “challenging market cycle,” comes at a time when more Mainers are starting to recycle. According to Recycling Reform for Maine, an initiative of the Natural Resource Council of Maine, Maine taxpayers pay an estimated $16 million to $17 million each year to finance recycling “through fragmented and increasingly expensive disposal or recycling options.”
The committee also recommended supporting an Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging bill presented to the legislature last week. This bill would give producers of packaging materials a direct economic incentive to produce less-wasteful packaging that can easily and profitably be managed by municipal recycling programs.
“Having shared responsibility between those who create the waste and those who manage the waste would foster recycling system improvements and enable greater participation in recycling across Maine,” the organization said. Plus, it is “an insurance policy for Maine municipalities when global recycling markets are unfavorable.
Brands including Amazon, Best Buy, Hasbro, Home Depot, McDonald’s, Mattel, Nabisco, Samsung and Walmart are already participating in similar programs
“Taxpayers have for too long been paying for a waste problem they didn’t create,” Sarah Nichols, Sustainable Maine director of the resource council said in a statement. “(The bill) will make Maine’s recycling programs more effective, sustainable, and equitable by incentivizing waste reduction and requiring producers to compensate municipalities for recycling costs.”
Some aspects of Brunswick’s plan, like a zero-waste future, may not be entirely attainable, but it’s “more of a mentality that we’re working toward,” Hicks said, and though involved, plan implementation may not be all that difficult.
Councilors are hoping that’s the case.
Councilor Christopher Watkinson said he was happy to see the number of components and liked to see the top to bottom approach. The plan would likely dovetail nicely with the town’s comprehensive plan, scheduled to be ready in the fall.
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