By Rick Wright
Staff Writer

A pay-per-throw recycling system could be coming to Cape Elizabeth if town residents follow the town council’s leadership.
The system, if adopted, would require Cape Elizabeth residents to buy special bags for their trash before dropping it off at the town’s transfer station.
The council on Monday supported the idea of at least starting a conversation about the proposal.
“I think we’re headed for pay-per-throw. I say we get going now. I think we’ve got to start,” Councilor Jessica Sullivan said.
The council will discuss the matter in more detail at a workshop on Aug. 9 and hold a public hearing Sept. 13.
“I think we have to move forward and we have to flush out all the details. We’ve got to hear from the public,” said Councilor Jim Walsh.
Most councilors strongly endorsed the plan. Only councilor Penny Jordan expressed hesitancy with the pay-per-throw concept.
“I am philosophically opposed to a fee-based system,” Jordan said. “We need to hear from the citizens and they need to understand the aspects of pay per throw.”
“I think we should decide something because it just tortures people to drag these things out,” said Town Council Chairman Anne Swift-Kayatta.
In a 2003 survey, 30 percent of Cape’s residents indicated support for a pay-per-throw trash disposal system.
According to that survey, the goals of a pay-per-throw system are to reduce overall trash, increase recycling and distribute the costs more equitably to those who create more trash.
The decision to revive the issue evolved from a recycling committee report offered by Jordan at Monday’s workshop.
While Jordan advocated an overall strategy for encouraging more recycling, Councilor Frank Governali suggested the pay-per-throw system should be a part of that strategy.
“What’s the down side of doing both?” Governali asked.
Currently, 31 percent of Cape Elizabeth residents take recycled materials to the transfer station. That number could be increased to around 37 percent with a pay-per-throw system, said Town Manager Mike McGovern.
Reduction in solid waste reduces the tipping fee Cape Elizabeth must pay ecomaine to dispose of the town’s trash. Ecomaine is a nonprofit waste management company owned and operated by 21 municipalities in southern Maine.
Last year, an 8 percent reduction in solid waste saved the town $8,000, McGovern said, and last year, the town paid a tipping fee of $507,980. That was $28,000 less than the previous year, McGovern said.
Cape Elizabeth’s tipping fee has been trending down over the past three years because increased recycling and the bad economy have reduced the tonnage of waste going to ecomaine, McGovern said.
Cape Elizabeth pays by the ton for waste disposal done through ecomaine, McGovern said.

Rick Wright can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 237 or news@inthesentry.com