CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou city councilors have approved an interlocal agreement to merge Presque Isle’s landfill with the Tri-Community Landfill that serves Caribou, Limestone, and Fort Fairfield.
If Limestone and Fort Fairfield also approve this agreement, Tri-Community Landfill Board members from all three communities, as well as representatives from Presque Isle, will have to unanimously approve finalized terms of the merger before it is official.
Tri-Community Landfill Solid Waste Director Mark Draper summarized current amendments to the agreement during a Nov. 27 council meeting, explaining why the merger is taking place as well as the financial aspect of consolidating the two organizations.
“The reason we got involved with this is because there’s an abundance of landfill disposal capacity in Aroostook County, and a decline in the amount of waste that requires disposal at those facilities,” Draper said. “You have two facilities with a large capacity, and both need more tonnage to be financially feasible.”
While the concept of merging was introduced in June, the four communities have been working out details of the merger since that time.
Draper explained some of those details on Monday night, including a unanimously approved operating plan.
“The [operating plan] includes operating both landfills for a limited amount of time to basically use up the capacity of the Presque Isle landfill,” he said. “Following that, Presque Isle will shut down their operation and all operations will be moved to Fort Fairfield at the Tri-Community Landfill.”
A backup to this plan, according to Draper, would be to immediately shut down the landfill in Presque Isle and move all operations to Fort Fairfield.
“In either event,” he continued, “users of the Tri-Community Landfill in Fort Fairfield will see no changes as a result of the merger.”
The director estimated that, without merging, the Tri-Community Landfill could remain operational for roughly 44 years. However, by merging with Presque Isle, he said that the lifespan could be roughly 55 years.
Financially, the interlocal agreement involves Presque Isle paying Caribou, Limestone, and Fort Fairfield $2 million over the course of eight years.
“Caribou stands to receive approximately $1.3 million of that due to the current ownership of the Tri-Community landfill,” he added.
Draper said Presque Isle’s payment is equal to the current liability for closing the Presque Isle landfill, meaning Caribou, Limestone, and Fort Fairfield would “not be assuming any unfunded liability.”
Benefits of merging, according to Draper, include spreading the cost over a larger volume of waste and reducing the unit cost paid by those who dispose of their waste at the landfill, increased disposal capacity overall, and the possibility of being eligible for grants that may not have been previously available.
“Looking down the road, we hope landfill is not the answer for trash in the future,” Draper said. “By working together, we could hopefully take advantage of new technology in the future.”
Councilor David Martin asked Draper if the final agreement could be amended so that, regardless of whether or not Presque Isle’s landfill or the Fort Fairfield landfill is solely used in the future, people who use one landfill could access a transfer station in their area without having to travel further to dispose of their waste.
Draper told Martin that Presque Isle also has discussed this, and that he would take the suggestion back to the board.
From there, councilors voted to approve the interlocal agreement.
