BREWER, Maine — Brewer has announced a significant change to its curbside waste collection program, beginning in September.
City officials say they plan on taking full advantage of the efficiencies and technological capabilities of Fiberight’s new Coastal Resources of Maine advanced waste processing and recycling facility in Hampden.
Brewer’s Finance Director Karen Fussell says it will streamline and simplify the process for residents to get rid of materials via curbside.
Fussell said the change is driven by the fact that the Coastal plant is designed to recycle and reprocess virtually all of the material it receives -- so there is no need to separate out a limited set of materials and have them collected by a separate recycling truck.
Residents will no longer need to think about whether or not something is 'recyclable', she said. Now, it virtually all is, and Coastal will do the separating.
"We are pretty excited about the change and the ability of the new plant in Hampden," said Fussell.
Brewer officials understand that the recycling program has been an important part of its 'Pay As You Throw' system, as it allowed residents to minimize their waste disposal costs. So, they are making two important enhancements to the PAYT program.
First, they plan to change from a bag-based PAYT program to a tag-based system. So, Fussell says, for the same two dollars that now buys a 33-gallon orange bag, a resident will obtain a PAYT sticker that can be affixed to any size and quality bag they wish, like a 60-gallon heavy duty contractor bag -- as long as it doesn’t exceed 40 pounds.
In addition to providing residents significantly more volume for the same cost, Fussell says the change resolves the concerns many residents have about the inconsistent quality of the orange bags.
The second PAYT program enhancement is that cardboard will not need to be bagged. Residents may place neatly stacked cardboard alongside their properly tagged trash, and it will be collected weekly, free of charge.
Brewer’s bag-based 'Pay As You Throw' program began January 1, 2011. Since that time, officials say Brewer’s residential waste has been reduced by about 50 percent.
The changes planned for September 1 are expected to save the city about $100,000 in its current program costs. Fussell says the lower cost is a result of savings in the collection contract, recycling tip fees, and bag manufacturing and warehousing cost.
