KINGFIELD/NEW PORTLAND — Members of the Kingfield/New Portland Transfer Station Committee will meet on July 8 at 6:30 p.m. and will most likely be making a decision on the future of recycling at the station. Their rationale for change is to save money by partnering with Portlandbased EcoMaine, an entity which accepts a wide range of commingled recyclables at its material recovery facility.

Currently, residents who use the station separate recyclables into individual commodities and place them in designated containers.

This includes braking down old corrugated boxes, placing newspapers in a special bin and separating high grade fibers from mixed paper. It also includes placing metal cans, glass, aluminum and clear and colored HDPE plastic containers into separate bins throughout the transfer station.

The towns have been associated over the years with Farmington-based Sandy River Recycling Association which does not charge a hauling fee to pick up the recyclables, but does charge a tipping fee for the commodities. The recycling tipping fee is less than the costs associated with municipal solid waste where a tipping fee is charged and hauling fees are invoiced for transportation to the nearest landfill.

The rationale for recycling in the associated towns has always been that it saves money. Recyclables are cheaper to process and dispose of than MSW. The more recyclables that are generated compared to MSW, the more savings that is incurred at the transfer station.

Portland based EcoMaine’s transportation cost of shipping recyclables is estimated over $400 per haul.

The committee is also looking at purchasing capital equipment for the transfer station including a compactor and two roll-off containers. Costs associated with the capital equipment also include earthwork, concrete and building materials. These costs might amount to $12,000 to $16,000.

Alison McCrady of EcoMaine has been in the area over the year and has indicated that the station can save significant money if it switches to “single-sort” recycling. She has presented the committee with several financial documents that suggest that even with the annual payments of a five-year bond to pay off the capital equipment, the station will see a savings of nearly $100 per ton.

McCrady’s calculations reveal the cost per ton for recyclables. This includes SRRA fees, a percentage of local labor which is dedicated to recycling and other costs of the transfer station.

Her calculations show that it currently cost the station $232.92 per ton to recycle in partnership with SRRA.

Her calculations show that it will cost only $148.75 per ton if it joins EcoMaine.

The way it works, more recyclables will be generated as a result of single sort recycling with far less labor. One rationale is that 85 percent less labor will be needed at the station. Residents will no longer need to separate the commodities. All recyclables (paper, glass, aluminum, plastic and tin) will be placed into one container which is a high density compactor. EcoMaine also accepts a greater range of material such as all plastics (1 through 7) including oil containers, microwave dinner containers, aseptic packaging and other material. More recyclables accepted means less MSW, she explains, and the easier it is for residents means greater participation in recycling.

The compactors roll-off container, once full, will contain nearly 12 tons of commodities. The dense material contained in the container will greatly offset the added distance of hauling to Portland compared to loose loads being hauled to Farmington for processing.

With less labor needed at the transfer station, more recycling, less MSW, compacted material being shipped and even the potential of revenue generated through EcoMaine’s revenue sharing program, McCrady shows that it will cost the towns less. The savings include the cost of annual five-year payments for the new capital equipment. After the bond is paid off, her calculated cost is stated to be under $90 per ton.

Material generated at the Portland based facility is tipped onto a floor where conveyors, machinery and labor separate the material. With the use of magnets, eddy currents, optical sorting machinery and gravitational separation devices, material is designated into specific grades and either baled or placed into ship-ready containers.