HAMPDEN, Maine — After more than two years, the new, advanced waste processing facility in Hampden is showing promise of reopening within the next year.
The Municipal Review Committee (MRC) purchased the facility for $1.5 million and is working out a deal with an investment firm based in New York to cover reopening costs. Michael Carroll is the executive director of the MRC.
"Now we're gonna have a small ownership of this plant so we're gonna have a seat at the table," Carroll said.
Once the deal is finalized, Carroll says it may take some time before the plant is running again.
"This stuff had been sitting idle, so things have to be started, and obviously with COVID and everything else, parts are hard to get, labor's an issue," Carroll said.
The facility will serve 115 communities in the greater Bangor area. The MRC hopes to use demo waste to start testing the equipment within the next six months, and be fully operational within the next year.
The facility shut down just six months after opening in May of 2020 due to a lack of funding.
"It just seems like it's been such a long time coming we're happy to finally see things happening," Aaron Huotari, Bangor Public Works director and MRC board member, said.
Huotari says the majority of trash from these 115 communities was being sent to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company (PERC) in Orrington, which turns trash into electricity.
"Burning our waste to produce electricity isn't a bad thing but it wasn't the recycling we were looking for," Huotari said.
Plus, the remaining trash not sent to PERC had to be sent to landfills.
Huotari says before the plant was running, only 8 percent of Bangor's waste was recycled.
"During the six months that the plant was in full operation, they were pulling 50 percent of our waste out," Huotari said.
Once it's running again, the facility looks to be an environmentally friendly solution that's also a stress-free recycle program for residents of the 115 towns it serves.
"We don't have to rely on residents to sort waste and to properly sort it, which can be a little difficult. They just throw all their trash in the bin and it gets done by a machine at the plant," Huotari said.
"I mean, there always could be a hiccup here or there, but I think we're gonna start seeing things move forward very quickly and start seeing some equipment being turned," Carroll said.
Carroll expects the deal with the investment firm to be finalized by a judge by mid-September.