'Environmental responsibility' and 'waste management' are not phrases that are typically found together. Nonetheless, a company in Portland, Maine is doing just that.
Ecomaine, according to the website
www.ecomaine.org/, "provides comprehensive long-term solid waste solutions in a safe, environmentally responsible, economically sound manner, and is a leader in raising public awareness of
sustainable waste management strategies."
Founded in 1976, it has developed into a leading example of municipal recycling and waste stream reduction. A non-profit company owned by 21 communities, serving the needs of 25% of the state's population, they process 500 tons of waste every day. A single-stream recycling operation efficiently removes recoverable material. Unrecoverable material is used to fuel a Waste To
Energy (WTE) electric power plant producing around 100k MW per year-enough to power 15000 homes. That's a lot of power.
I grew up in Bangor, Maine, just a couple blocks away from Frank Gallagher, a real good kid, used to play softball with him at the
local park.
He just happens to be the Communications Director for Ecomaine. I'm going to see if I can get him to stop in and talk about all this.
