LEWISTON, Maine — As more cities and towns in Maine revamp their recycling programs, more people are paying attention to how the contracted companies handle the waste.
THE QUESTION:
Does the paper, plastic, glass, and metal I put in my recycling bin actually get sold to be recycled?
THE SOURCES:
THE ANSWER:
Yes, Maine groups sell this material to be recycled.
WHAT WE FOUND:
Casella and ecomaine invited NEWS CENTER Maine into their sorting facilities to see how the process actually works.
"I can tell you with assurance, with great assurance, that that material does get recycled," Kevin Roche, CEO of ecomaine, said.
"We do have end markets for that material. Their containers are being recycled. They're being baled. They're being sent out to market and being turned into new products," Jeff Weld, communications director for Casella Waste Systems, said. "A major part of Casella operations is really developing that and going out to those markets and understanding who are the buyers of this material and where can we send these materials consistently, and regularly and make sure that we're getting a price that benefits the municipalities and the folks that are sending us that waste material to begin with."
Both Casella and ecomaine have similar sorting processes. Sanitation trucks bring the waste to Casella's Zero-Sort facility in Lewiston, or to the ecomaine facility in Portland, where the operators dump the waste onto what is called the "tipping floor."
From there, front loaders push the waste onto conveyor belts, where the sorting begins. Humans handpick the non-recyclable material out of the stream.
Casella's facility has a magnet that separates out the metal items, and sends them on a different belt.
Then, tumbling machines shake the paper and plastic material to sort those items into separate piles.
Each category of material then goes into a bundling machine so the tons of waste can be shipped and sold to markets for entities to purchase the material for repurposing.
"It doesn't make sense to go through the process of collecting and processing all that material, baling it up, shipping it to market, and then ending up in a landfill," Roche said. "It just doesn't make economic sense to do that, obviously."
Roche said there are markets for all of these materials. While the markets, prices, and values for all of these materials can fluctuate, Roche said they are always selling them.
"We have never not been able to market the material. Sometimes the material doesn't have much value, but we still send it to market," Roche said.
Roche said as of the end of January 2024, ecomaine processed more than 21,101 tons of material, which amounted to more $1.3 million.