Staff Writer 

At age 18, Lauren Hadiaris had to learn to say “transfer station.”

“People get really mad when you call it ‘the dump,’” she said.

The term is just one change Hadiaris has made since she followed her family across South Portland’s border to their new home in Cape Elizabeth a year ago. After making  the move from a municipality with curbside trash collection to one that did not, Hadiaris said it took some time to understand what she perceives as a general fondness of the transfer station.

“People like the transfer station. I get the fact it’s a social atmosphere; the swap shop, the routine,” she said. “When you start talking about curbside pickup people can get pretty territorial and hesitant.”

Hadiaris said she was shocked to learn that some of her new neighbors thought trash and recycling bins looked ugly sitting on the curb.

“I don’t think they look fine,” she said. “I think they look like you care.”

Currently Cape Elizabeth residents are required by local ordinance to recycle, either when they dispose of  trash at the town recycling center or by dropping off recyclable material at several “silver bullet” containers at town hall. Hadiaris said she longed for the convenience of South Portland’s curbside trash and recycling pickup service after making the move to Cape Elizabeth, after which the weekly drive to the transfer station became her responsibility. During trash runs, Hadiaris said she noticed that people waiting in line for the hopper or recycling building would often leave their cars running. 

“I always shut my car off,” she said “You see a lot of people stuck on the [Casco Bay] bridge doing that now, I don’t know why not at the transfer station.”

When her environmental studies teacher at Portland’s Wayneflete School asked the class to come up with a comprehensive environment study, Hadiaris knew exactly what she wanted to do. About the same time the town council considered the cost implications of starting a curbside pickup program, so Hadiaris considered the environmental benefits of curbside.

“It seemed like the town council used price numbers and not carbon dioxide numbers,” she said. “I think that’s the most important part of it, the environment.”

To begin the study, Hadiaris said she spent several weeks sitting at the transfer station taking notes on different types of cars that arrived, how often residents visited the transfer station and whether or not they recycled. 

“There were a lot more pickup trucks than I was expecting, and a lot of SUVs and station wagons,” she said. “Most people showed up once a week.”

While Hadiaris said a majority of residents were curious about her project and quick to offer their help, some residents avoided being included in the study for fear their poor recycling practices might become public knowledge.

“People would travel over to the other side of the hopper so that I couldn’t see them. People became embarrassed,” she said. “I met one older couple who told me they didn’t recycle, but when I asked why not they said ‘We will now.’”

 Hadiaris used her observations, a tax map of the town and statistics from commercial trash haulers to determine the average fuel consumption and carbon footprint per household for both methods of trash disposal. According to her research, less than half of residents who deposited trash at the transfer station also recycled, as statistic she said she hoped has improved since the town council passed an ordinance mandating recycling in January.

“It should be a law,” she said. 

At the time, Hadiaris said she wasn’t aware the council budgeted funds for a new recycling education program, which Town Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta said could save the town $18,000 in waste-related costs if it inspires more people to recycle. 

“I think people just need to get more knowledgeable about recycling,” Hadiaris said. “Once people learn, they do care. It isn’t just for us, it’s for the environment. We’re not owners or stewards of it, we’re part of it.”

It may be questionable whether or not a curbside pickup program would increase the amount of waste that is recycled, but Hadiaris discovered that curbside pickup would save residents a collective $263,000 in fuel costs associated with traveling to the transfer station. The fuel cost is $100,000 less than it would cost to implement a curbside pickup program, but Hadiaris said the estimate was calculated this summer when gas prices were more than $3.50 a gallon. She said the equation also only factored in one trip to the transfer station a week for each household although some residents may make more frequent trips.

She may have confirmed the town council’s fear of increasing the tax burden, but Hadiaris did find one variable that decreases when a town transitions to curbside pickup. According to her research, idling cars and traffic generated by trips to the transfer station put more than 1.4 million pounds of carbon dioxide in the air; more 10 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by trash trucks during a regular collection route.

Last month, Hadiaris received an eco-excellence award for her research project from ecomaine, although she said the real reward was keeping Cape Elizabeth town officials well informed.

“I would like to see Cape Elizabeth do curbside pickup,” she said. “At some point you have to forget about the cost. It’s for the environment and it’s more important.”

Hadiaris plans to attend Bates College in Lewiston next year, where she said she will continue to find new ways to help the environment, including waiting to do laundry, shutting off her car and plucking returnables from the top of trash barrels, and spread the word. 

“Everyone was really into helping me, I think that’s special about Maine,” she said. “People here are really helpful and interested in their communities.”