NEW RECYCLING EQUIPMENT TO DOUBLE AREA'S RECYCLING CAPABILITY

Sorting equipment, on display at May 24 open house, will also reduce amount area residents have to sort at home and save on recycling costs

PORTLAND, Maine ÷ For thousands of southern Maine residents, the process of sorting and dropping off recyclables at the familiar silver RWS bins will soon get much easier and be less time consuming, thanks to the organization's new mechanical sorting equipment.

The processing equipment, a series of large conveyors on an elevated platform and a special screen which sorts some items automatically, changes the way recyclable containers, cardboard, and paper are sorted. By using space and people more efficiently, the equipment allows plastic bottles such as soda bottles (#1) and detergent or bleach bottles (#2 colored) to be added to the mix RWS can accept. In addition, the new system allows all cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles to be mixed together, cutting transportation costs and making it easier for residents to recycle. Signs will soon be posted at the silver recycling bins throughout southern Maine to instruct residents about the changes.

A dedication event with tours of the modernized facility has been scheduled for May 24, 2000, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the RWS recycling facility on Blueberry Road in Portland. Open to the public, persons interested in attending may call 775-5115 to RSVP or 773-6465 to get directions.

But equally impressive as the increase in recycling and the ease in which residents will be able to recycle in the future was the intensive and thorough process used by the volunteer board-appointed Recycling Committee to procure the equipment.

After studying ways to increase recycling in the area, the committee conlcuded that the RWS recycling capabilities were out of date and needed to be improved and expanded. "We rejected the initial bids from a number of equipment companies because they were just too high, or they failed our financial tests," said Committee Chair Carol Fritz of Cape Elizabeth.

"We then had several companies resubmit bids," she added. "Committee members visited the reference plants of four finalists to familiarize ourselves with the equipment we were being offered. Simultaneous negotiations, further value-oriented design changes and hard bargaining brought the costs down. In the end, we worked with the company we selected to get the new equipment at a very reasonable price. Because of the procurement process we used, we will now be able to receive more, process more, sort more and sell more, and all at a reduced cost with vastly improved working conditions."

"They should be commended," said Dale Olmstead, chair of the 28-member RWS Board of Directors and Freeport's town manager. "How a committee of volunteers was able to get this equipment at the price they did is truly a feat. We estimate that we were able to save more than $2 million on equipment alone. So they accomplished a great deal in the past two years."

The RWS board appointed the Recycling Committee in 1998 to address and improve the system's ability to recycle. Members include Chair Carol Fritz, Jim Cloutier, Len Van Gaasbeek, Nick Mavodones, Susan McGinty, Harold Meade, Scott Seaver, Sally Temm, Jack Dawson and Linda Boudreau, who served as chair of the committee during her service on the RWS Board of Directors. She actively directed and participated in the facility evaluation and procurement process during that time.

Regional Waste Systems, Inc. operates Maine's largest municipal recycling program, and is owned and operated by the towns it serves. The organization has seen a dramatic increase in its recycling rate over the past year, with further municipal recycling changes anticipated to push the rate higher still. The recycling equipment will allow RWS to more than double its recycling capacity while accepting a wider variety of materials and more mixed materials, which reduces the amount of sorting for homeowners. This will make resident's recycling easier and more effective at cutting down what ends up in the trash, whether recyclables are picked up at the curb or delivered to the silver recycling containers located throughout the region.

"It's a major breakthrough and a new way for the region to process recycled material in an efficient way," said Fritz, the Recycling Committee chair. "The new equipment allows RWS to make better use of its space, to receive more materials, and to accept more kinds of materials. For example, RWS will be able to accept two additional kinds of plastic ÷ crushed plastic PET (#1) and HDPE (#2) containers including milk jugs, water bottles and cider jugs, bleach and detergent bottles, soda and vegetable oil bottles, etc. That is a big improvement. In addition, RWS can accept Îcommingled' materials, meaning residents no longer have to take the time to sort their bottles, cans, and plastics separately from each other. But the best part is that recycling will go way up, and that's what the program is all about. If we make it easier for residents to recycle, and we handle materials more efficiently, we can avoid the need for new incinerators and landfills, which are both operating at capacity."

The volunteers studied recycling equipment for more than a year before making a recommendation to the RWS board last September. The City of Portland's creation of a new "pay-per-bag" program last July added more urgency because the amount of recycled material coming into RWS increased as a result.

After visiting plants and conducting interviews, the committee chose Hustler Conveyor Co. of St. Charles, Mo. The new equipment, which includes a fiber sorting line and a container sorting line for cans, glass and plastic bottles, allows RWS to handle about 13,000 tons of recyclables this year. It is designed to handle the anticipated continued and accelerated growth.

RWS handles the solid waste management needs of its 21 owner communities and also serves 10 associate members in southern Maine. It is owned and controlled by its member municipalities. The waste transported to the facility, located on Blueberry Road off Outer Congress Street in Portland, is incinerated to create energy. RWS also has more than 100 drop off recycling bins set up in more than 60 locations. The 31 towns and cities served by RWS include Baldwin, Bridgton, Cape Elizabeth, Casco, Cumberland, Durham, Falmouth, Freeport, Gorham, Gray, Harrison, Hiram, Hollis, Limington, Lyman, Naples, North Yarmouth, Ogunquit, Parsonsfield, Phippsburg, Porter, Portland, Pownal, Scarborough, Sebago, South Portland, Standish, Waterboro, Windham, and Yarmouth.

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