Waste disposal to cost more at town dump (June 26, 2008)
Posted by Register Editor at 6/27/2008 9:08 AM and is filed under Trash and recycling,Economy,Renee Worthing 
By Renee Worthing
Staff Writer
Sanford town councilors voted 6 to 1 to double the cost of the town’s transfer station sticker to make up for rising disposal costs.
The new price, $20, went into effect June 18, although stickers that expire June 30 will still be honored.
Sanford Director of Sanitation Eugene Alley said it is still a “good deal.”
The punch pass allows residents to dispose of one television, two tires (on or off the rim), four bulky items including sofas, sofa chairs, mattresses or box springs, four cubic yards of brush, two cubic yards of demolition wood and two cubic yards of asphalt shingles and sheetrock each year.
Disposal of metal is free except for items containing Freon.
Substitutions are not allowed on the punch pass.
Alley said if a resident were to bring each item allowed on the card to the transfer station without a punch card, it would cost $209.
The sticker, which comes with a numbered, color-coded punch pass to prevent “sharing,” allows disposal of several items at the Sanford Transfer Station.
He said if a resident maxes out the punch pass, the disposal cost for all of the items would cost the town about $93.40.
Alley said the state enacted a law in 2006, which requires manufacturers to pay the cost of disposing televisions. However, Sanford is still responsible for transporting the sets to a Portsmouth recycling facility at a cost of $75 per truckload.
The sticker allows residents to take as much household trash to the transfer station as they would like at no extra charge, he said.
The transfer station also accepts lawn clippings and leaves, which are transported to Lavigne’s Strawberry Farm in south Sanford, but he said Lavigne’s will only accept loose leaves.
“If residents bring bagged leaves or grass clippings to the transfer station, we ask them to open the bags and dump them out,” Alley said.
Wood brought to the transfer station is mulched and used by the public works department for trails, but pressure treated wood must be taken to a landfill because chemicals used to treat the wood are toxic.
He said rules for disposing of various items are “ever changing” as the Maine Department of Environmental Protection changes the guidelines.
The town also pays a $65 per ton tipping fee to Maine Energy in Biddeford for non-recyclable household trash.
Staff Writer
Sanford town councilors voted 6 to 1 to double the cost of the town’s transfer station sticker to make up for rising disposal costs.
The new price, $20, went into effect June 18, although stickers that expire June 30 will still be honored.
Sanford Director of Sanitation Eugene Alley said it is still a “good deal.”
The punch pass allows residents to dispose of one television, two tires (on or off the rim), four bulky items including sofas, sofa chairs, mattresses or box springs, four cubic yards of brush, two cubic yards of demolition wood and two cubic yards of asphalt shingles and sheetrock each year.
Disposal of metal is free except for items containing Freon.
Substitutions are not allowed on the punch pass.
Alley said if a resident were to bring each item allowed on the card to the transfer station without a punch card, it would cost $209.
The sticker, which comes with a numbered, color-coded punch pass to prevent “sharing,” allows disposal of several items at the Sanford Transfer Station.
He said if a resident maxes out the punch pass, the disposal cost for all of the items would cost the town about $93.40.
Alley said the state enacted a law in 2006, which requires manufacturers to pay the cost of disposing televisions. However, Sanford is still responsible for transporting the sets to a Portsmouth recycling facility at a cost of $75 per truckload.
The sticker allows residents to take as much household trash to the transfer station as they would like at no extra charge, he said.
The transfer station also accepts lawn clippings and leaves, which are transported to Lavigne’s Strawberry Farm in south Sanford, but he said Lavigne’s will only accept loose leaves.
“If residents bring bagged leaves or grass clippings to the transfer station, we ask them to open the bags and dump them out,” Alley said.
Wood brought to the transfer station is mulched and used by the public works department for trails, but pressure treated wood must be taken to a landfill because chemicals used to treat the wood are toxic.
He said rules for disposing of various items are “ever changing” as the Maine Department of Environmental Protection changes the guidelines.
The town also pays a $65 per ton tipping fee to Maine Energy in Biddeford for non-recyclable household trash.
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