China transfer station manager seeks additional can

by Mary Grow

China Transfer Station Committee members discussed many topics at their March 10 meeting.

Transfer station manager Thomas Maraggio said if he had a spare “can” (compactor can, the big metal box in which waste is compacted and hauled away), he could operate more efficiently (and save money on hauling fees). The cans hold 15 tons; China’s average weight when one is taken away is 11.15 tons.

After the transfer station committee meeting, Hapgood received and shared an update from Michael Carroll, executive director of the facility to which China hopes to begin sending its trash.

Carroll began, “We’re excited to share significant progress at Municipal Waste Solutions’ Hampden, Maine facility.”

He described two advances: installation of more conveyor belts and testing of some of the early ones, which are now “fully operational”; and installation of two shredder stands that are waiting to receive shredders. The “major power units” for the shredders are also in place; Carroll called these units “a critical part of the system.”

To install the shredders, and other heavy pieces, Carroll wrote that “we are coordinating the arrival of a crane, scheduled within the next several weeks.”

“Each completed step brings us closer to a fully functioning, state-of-the-art processing facility designed to deliver dependable, long-term waste solutions for the communities we serve,” he wrote. He gave no estimated opening date, but promised to continue to update member municipalities.

After the meeting, Maraggio explained that the main problem is weekends: the station needs to start Saturday with an empty can, because it can get filled that day. The need for a fresh can Saturday morning means station staff have to ship out a can late Friday, full or not. If they had a swap can, they could wait until the Friday can was completely full.

Maraggio is expecting the company that chips collected brush to come this month. Whether China needs to pave its brush collection area remains undetermined, awaiting analysis of a subsoil sample by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

He and Town Manager Rebecca Hapgood reported that since an employee resigned, the new part-timer has become full-time, and the station is again looking to hire a part-time employee. This person would work 19 hours a week on Fridays and Saturdays; application information is on the town website, chinamaine.org.

Committee member Rachel Anderson said the Saturday volunteer keeps the free for the taking building well organized and tidy. People are being good about bringing in only items that someone else can re-use. Donations must be clean, as well as usable, she said, to attract a new owner.

Hapgood said 2026 transfer station stickers seem to be all right – “people are gettin’ them.” The 2025 stickers generated complaints about the glue.

Hapgood and Bob Kurek, one of Palermo’s representatives on the committee, discussed the bag fee charged to Palermo residents and the formula for updating it, proposing no immediate change.

Upcoming events include:

— A paper shredding day on Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the public works department, just west of the transfer station on Alder Park Road; and
— The annual Earth Day town-wide clean-up, which Hapgood plans to run as Earth Week, from Saturday, April 18, through Earth Day on April 22 to Saturday, April 25.

Earth Week volunteers will be given road assignments and provided with trash bags and gloves, Hapgood said. More information will be available in April.

The next transfer station committee meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m., Tuesday, April 14, in the town office meeting room.