Six Stories from Around the Waste Industry for Feb. 7

Casella scraps plan to build pipeline from Old Town landfill to UMaine over financing. “A proposed seven-mile methane gas pipeline between Juniper Ridge landfill in Old Town and the University of Maine to provide cheap, renewable heat to the campus has been scrapped over financing, according to an official with the landfill’s parent company. ‘One of the conditions of going forward with the pipeline project was that we obtain financing for it. We were not able to do that,’ Don Meagher, manager of planning and development for Casella Waste Systems Inc., said Thursday.” (Bangor Daily News)

Former owner still connected to Satin Dolls cooperating with feds in waste hauling bust. “The owner of Satin Dolls, the Lodi strip club featured in The Sopranos, is reportedly cooperating with federal authorities. Satin Dolls on Route 17 south in Lodi, where The Sopranos filmed episodes of the show. Anthony Cardinalle, 60, of Saddle River was arrested last January 2013 along with 29 other mobsters and associates. Federal authorities in Manhattan accused him of participating in a racketeering enterprise that exercised illegal control over waste haulers in Bergen and Passaic counties and Westchester, Rockland and Nassau counties in New York.” (NorthJesey.com)

Grant allows startup of recycling for agricultural, pellet-bag plastic. “Got plastic? Specifically, plastic bags from wood pellets, hay bale or greenhouse covers or maple sugaring tubing? They can soon be recycled with help from a $60,960 state grant awarded to the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District. The grant is one of seven Community Innovation Grants awarded totaling over $720,000 and involving Franklin County towns as part of a $4 million program to support regionalization efforts statewide.” (The Recorder)

County's Recycling Rate Increases 10 Percent. “Prince George’s County residents and businesses are doing their part to keep the County green and on the path to zero waste, increasing the amount of recycling by 10 percent over a year ago. According to the latest figures released by the Maryland Department of the Environment, the county’s 2012 recycling rate rose to 54.44 percent with an overall waste diversion rate of 59.44 percent; that equates to a 10.33 percent increase over a one-year period and ranks the county third in the state, behind Harford and Montgomery Counties.” (BowiePatch)

Palo Alto to weigh differing visions for composting. “More than a year after Palo Alto voters approved a plan to set aside 10 acres in the Baylands for a possible composting plant, the future of waste management remains very much up in the air, with three companies proposing disparate visions for disposing of local food scraps, yard trimmings and biosolid waste.” (Palo Alto Online)

li> Virginia Aquarium winter E-cycling yields 65,000 pounds of waste. “ The Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center and its E-cycling partners say they've never been happier to get people’s trash. During four hours of frigid cold temperatures on January 25, nearly 700 vehicles dropped off their recyclables.” (WVEC.com)