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Submitted by Mary_Dolan on Tue, 2010-06-15 23:47

The Trash Tracking Network wants to know!

  • What is going into Juniper Ridge Landfill?
  • Where is it coming from?
  • Who is getting the money?

In 2003, the State of Maine and the garbage industry (Casella Waste Systems) took advantage of paper mill job losses in Old Town to install a garbage behemoth in West Old Town. They named it "Juniper Ridge." For a more detailed history, see here (download PDF).

Now, in 2011, the surrounding towns of Alton, Old Town and Orono suffer the consequences. We now face a huge expansion and new waste streams such as treated biomedical waste coming to Juniper Ridge Landfill
(JRL).

Diagram

Adapted from video by Brad Goodwin, used with permission.

We want to keep Maine from becoming "Garbageland"

  • We want transparency in agreements that our state and local officials make with the garbage industry;
  • We want Maine to honor its statutory "Solid Waste Hierarchy": Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Compost, Waste-To-Energy, Landfill;
  • We want investment in sustainable solutions to issues around solid waste;
  • We want strict regulation of the garbage industry.

We want to STOP:

  • We want to STOP expansion of Juniper Ridge Landfill; JRL is already the highest point in Old Town and larger than Pine Tree Landfill on I-95;
  • We want to STOP new JRL waste streams, such as treated biomedical waste and sewage sludge;
  • We want to STOP out-of-state garbage coming to Maine;

We want to STOP our tax dollars funding garbage industry "greenwashed" projects, such as the Juniper Ridge to UMaine landfill gas pipeline.