Maine Senate unanimously approves bill to ban out-of-state waste
The Maine Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill to ban the dumping of out-of-state trash at state-owned landfills. The bill aims to prevent the demolition and construction debris of 16 tractor-trailers from entering Maine daily, mostly from Massachusetts. Overall, 30% of the waste at the Juniper Ridge landfill near Old Town comes from out of state but is deemed suitable after being treated by Resource Lewiston’s treatment facility. from out of state are processed into in-state waste and sent to our landfill. This can no longer happen, and our state-owned landfill will be preserved for Maine-generated waste, as planned,” said Sarah Nichols, Maine Sustainability Director for the Maine Natural Resources Council, which worked to get the bill passed. Nichols said: “The amount of waste that is in our state-owned landfill that has been generated out of state is equivalent to the weight of 10 aircraft carriers – 100 million tons of waste is in in this Massachusetts landfill.”All Democratic and Republican senators present supported the final bill, including Republican Rick Bennett, who described Massachusetts’ closure of its own landfills and the dumping of trash here as ” environmental colonialism”. on others, especially in Maine,” Bennett said. re more than 400,000 tons per year. recycling. Nichols added, “If this facility can’t bring as much trash out of state as before, the next source is to find more trash in the state of Maine, which they haven’t been looking for, and now they have a real incentive to go out and look for Maine-generated trash to send to their facility. The bill calls for the ban to take effect in February 2023. It still faces a first vote in the House.
The Maine Senate on Thursday unanimously approved a bill to ban the dumping of waste from outside the state at state-owned landfills.
The bill seeks to prevent the demolition and construction debris of 16 tractor-trailers from entering Maine daily, mostly from Massachusetts.
Overall, 30% of the waste at the Juniper Ridge landfill near Old Town comes from out of state, but is deemed acceptable after being treated by Resource Lewiston’s treatment facility.
“The bill closes the loophole that allows waste from out of state to be turned into state waste and sent to our landfill. This can no longer happen, and our state-owned landfill will be preserved for Maine-generated waste, as planned,” said Sarah Nichols, Maine Sustainability Director for the Maine Natural Resources Council, which worked to get the bill passed.
Nichols said: “The amount of waste that is in our state-owned landfill that has been generated from out of state is equivalent to the weight of 10 aircraft carriers – 100 million tons of waste is in in this Massachusetts landfill.”
All Democratic and Republican senators present supported the final bill, including Republican Rick Bennett, who described Massachusetts’ closing of its own landfills and dumping trash here as “environmental colonialism.”
“Outsourcing the degradation and costs of their good environmental policy to others, especially in Maine,” Bennett said.
The bill also calls on Maine to expand recycling of its own demolition and construction debris, 97% of which is not recycled, or more than 400,000 tons per year.
Bennett said, “There’s going to be more, with building booming happening all over Maine.”
Bennett said Resource Lewiston could be repurposed to offset Massachusetts’ lost business through in-state recycling.
Nichols added, “If this facility can’t bring as much trash out of state as before, the next source is finding more trash in the state of Maine, which they haven’t been looking for, and now they have a real incentive to go out and look for Maine-generated trash to send to their facility.
The bill calls for the ban to take effect in February 2023. It still faces a first vote in the House.