Opening of Fiberight’s Maine WTE Plant Delayed for Months

In July 2016, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection issued permits to the state’s Municipal Review Committee and Fiberight to build a new waste management plant in Hampden. And despite Penobscot Energy Recovery Company’s appeal that challenged Fiberight’s permits, construction of Fiberight’s new $69 million, 144,000-square-foot waste-to-energy (WTE) facility began in October 2016.

In April 2017, Fiberight was granted with a $45 million, tax-exempt bond from the Finance Authority of Maine to help construct and operate its new WTE facility, which will convert trash from more than 115 communities into biogas. And in January 2018, Fiberight announced the completion of $70 million in project financing for the facility.

The facility was slated to open on April 1, but due to a number of winter storms, the construction for the facility could take several more months to complete. Until the new facility opens, tens of thousands of tons of waste, including some recyclables and organics, will be sent to either Juniper Ridge Landfill in Alton or the Crossroads Landfill in Norridgewock at a cost of $70 per ton.

Bangor Daily News has more details:

The solid waste processing and recycling facility that was slated to open April 1 in Hampden could take months longer to be operational, meaning that trash from 115 municipalities will meanwhile be dumped in landfills.

Construction of the $69 million Fiberight facility off Coldbrook Road has taken longer to finish because of winter storms, Maryland-based Fiberight CEO Craig Stuart-Paul said Thursday.

“If we’d had a mild winter, we would have had the building under roof by January, and the recycling equipment would have been installed commencing March. But we had anything but a mild winter,” Stuart-Paul said.

Read the full story here.