Maine landfill operator seeks upward expansion

The operators of the municipal solid waste (MSW) and construction and demolition (C&D) materials landfill that serves Augusta, Maine, have applied with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to increase the airspace rights of the landfill to extend its life span.

A late May report from the Kennebec Journal says the Hatch Hill landfill, which is operated by Augusta’s Department of Public Works (DPW), has submitted an application to the DEP to undertake a “vertical expansion” of the landfill it estimates will cost about $18 million.

The DPW says that without the project, Hatch Hill may have less than five years of operating viability remaining. With the expansion, the landfill’s life span could extend to 14 years.

Another possibility, according to the Journal, is the landfill could stop accepting MSW and other materials currently being accepted from eight nearby communities.

Different scenarios were discussed at a May 23 city council informational meeting in Augusta, which included comments from a representative of the Portland, Maine-based engineering firm Woodard and Curran.

The firm estimates a vertical expansion would add about 600,000 tons of capacity to the landfill, up from the existing 165,000 tons. Current annual acceptance of MSW and other materials amounts to about 45,000 tons per year, the city says.

As is common in areas where landfills are older and new ones have a difficult permitting process, the tipping fee at Hatch Hill is above the national United States average of about $58 per ton.

According to the Augusta DPW website, residents and small business owners pay $88 per ton to bring MSW to the landfill. Larger MSW generators pay $80 per ton while C&D materials cost $100 per ton to tip.

The DPW and its consultant estimates the vertical expansion, if approved by the state, would begin serving to increase capacity by 2028, according to the Journal report.

The director of the DPW says the city owns about 500 acres at the landfill site and could expand it in other directions. However, she tells the Journal, that would involve seeking changes to the city’s existing landfill permit.