DUMMERSTON — The town's representative to the Windham Solid Waste Management District says that, despite the best efforts of its staff and volunteers, the District is struggling to make ends meet and is considering new sources of revenue and changes in personnel.
Michelle Cherrier told the Selectboard on Sept. 9 that, given a sharp falloff in sales from plastics, the projected closure of the Brattleboro landfill, and pending state mandates over recycling, the District is under pressure to adjust its business plan.
Though prices for plastics types 1 and 2 are moderate - “thought not great,” she said - types 3 through 7 are suddenly no longer marketable, though the District will continue accepting them from consumers.
“We want to do that. We don't want people to have to think about what they're putting in. Which means we're sorting out [and throwing away] everything that's type 3-7,” she said.
Cherrier explained that “the District is not making money at this point. The push is on to find more marketable product, and there's already been discussion about potential changes in personnel.”
One always has to “look at the largest expenses one has as a business, so these are challenging times to say the least,” she said.
Cherrier chairs the District's personnel policy committee.
The elephant in the room, she said, was that Burlington-based Carbon Harvest Energy LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Burlington on April 23, less than two years of the $2 million project's launch.
It had sought to grow vegetables, make bio-diesel from algae, and raise fish from the power and heat generated by the electric generator powered by methane gas from a closed landfill at the District's Old Ferry Road site.
Cherrier said there were hopes another entity would take on the facility for gas generation from compost.
Just because Carbon Harvest failed “doesn't mean there's never any more gas, because you [need to] look at composting, which one has to do, as it's going to become the law sooner and sooner,” she said.
She was referring to recently adopted solid waste legislation, Act 148, that focuses on recyclables and organics. The law is designed to provide convenience and choices for solid waste generators, including individuals, and, as written, will lead to more consistent services statewide.
“The state has decided that given the fact that we're rapidly approaching no landfill whatsoever - it will eventually run out - we will be like many places, having to have not only our recyclables, but all of our trash carried out of state. That costs money,” Cherrier said.
“It's never going to get cheaper. So they want to extend the life [of the landfill] by taking everything out that has reuse, and have required recycling,” she added.
Moving forward on revenue, Cherrier said, compost projects such as one thriving in Wilmington for the past 20 years could be a model.
“They have a very inexpensive installation and that's what [District Executive Director] Mr. [Robert] Spencer hopes to do; I would have to say I support his hopes, and I think the rest of the board does too, but we are in a position of no cash, which makes it a little more difficult,” she said.
In reply to Selectboard Chairman Zeke Goodband, who'd asked how much support the District could expect from residents in composting, Cherrier said, “We just hope the citizenry has enough good spirit to go along with it.”
She added: “I realize it's still not common. There's still a lot of people who don't recycle. Certainly there are a lot of people who don't compost. That's going to be a hurdle all by itself. But those are the things that the state envisions will happen.”
She also described Act 148 as an unfunded mandate, and predicted it would be amended: “One forty-eight's a big chunk to swallow. I think they heard a lot of opinions and may make some changes to it.”