A group of lawmakers, lobbyists, advocates and interested members of the public made a pilgrimage to three of Maine鈥檚 waste facilities to see for themselves how the state is handling the roughly 1.8 million tons of waste generated each year.
Maine Sen. Denise Tepler (D-Sagadahoc) said the tour was intended to give members of the Legislature鈥檚 Environment and Natural Resources Committee, which she co-chairs, a chance to better understand the facilities that their work helps govern. Waste is a pressing environmental issue in the state right now, evidenced by the upwards of 40 people that joined the tours.
The day started at Municipal WasteHub in Hampden, a recycling facility that is in the process of installing an anaerobic digester to process organic waste, such as animal manure, food waste and sewage sludge. The next stop was Eagle Point Energy Center in Orrington, which is a waste-to-energy facility that can use solid waste to generate up to 25 megawatts of electricity. Since it came under new ownership last year, Eagle Point is still in the process of bringing operations back to full capacity.