RWS General Manager Kevin Roche Delivers Keynote Address at Statewide Recycling Conference

Roche also leads presentation on improvements at solid waste management facility serving 27 Maine communities

RWS General Manager Kevin Roche advised Maine’s leaders in solid waste and recycling to listen to residents and businesses in devising innovative new ways of managing solid waste.

“To formulate a successful integrated approach to solid waste management, we need to understand the interests of those who generate solid waste for disposal or reuse,” Roche said during his keynote address May 3 at the 12th annual Maine Recycling & Solid Waste Conference in Bar Harbor.

Roche focused his talk on the industry’s “best practices” and compared what is happening in Maine to other parts of the country. He emphasized the importance of increasing recycling efforts and how organizations like RWS can help Maine achieve recycling goals by expanding and streamlining recycling programs to make them more efficient and easier to participate in.

Recently, the RWS Board made the decision to switch from a three-sort recycling system to a two-sort recycling system, and now RWS is looking at streamlining the program even more. As Maine continues to pursue its goal of a 50 percent recycling rate, Roche said making recycling easier and more available would help achieve that goal.

Roche, who joined RWS last fall after working for 16 years on both the public and private side of solid waste management and recycling, brought a recognizably diverse perspective and expertise to the conference.

In another presentation before a smaller group, Roche detailed some of the positive changes that have occurred in recent months at RWS. He explained that the primary strength of RWS is that it is a cooperative of 27 communities working together toward a common goal of developing the most efficient, effective and environmentally sound solid waste management solutions available for member owners.

Roche pointed to recent steps RWS has taken, including:

• Controlling costs by internalizing the landfill operation and manufacturing new air space at the landfill; refinancing to obtain better rates and lower annual debt service; increasing capacity of both the waste-to-energy facility and the recycling center to spread out fixed costs.
  
  
• Improving revenues by: improving power sales/revenues; soliciting for more recyclable materials and adding more materials to the program; recovering post burn metal from the ash and selling it.
  
  
• Board reorganization to improve efficiency

Roche also highlighted RWS’ commitment to environmental standards and discussed the recovery of energy from the waste it accepts.

Regional Waste Systems is a non-profit solid waste management corporation that is owned and operated by 21 cities and towns (Bridgton, Cape Elizabeth, Casco, Cumberland, Falmouth, Freeport, Gorham, Gray, Harrison, Hollis, Limington, Lyman, North Yarmouth, Ogunquit, Portland, Pownal, Scarborough, South Portland, Waterboro, Windham and Yarmouth), and also has six associate member towns (Baldwin, Hiram, Naples, Parsonsfield, Porter and Standish.)

The waste-to-energy plant operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and complies with state and federal Clean Air emission standards. Each year, RWS processes more than 170,000 tons of trash. The heat created by burning the waste generates steam, which is then transformed into enough electricity to meet the needs of 15,000 homes.

RWS has the largest, most comprehensive municipal recycling program in the state, recycling more than 17,000 tons of recycled materials each year. Established in 1974 after Portland, South Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough decided to form a cooperative to handle their waste disposal, RWS today is governed by a 28-member board, consisting of officials appointed from member communities. RWS accepts solid waste and recycled materials from these communities. For more info, visit the RWS web site at www.regionalwaste.org.

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