BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 22, 2022
After reading about Maine towns becoming the owners of the Hampden trash plant, I have one question: Why? The plant used new technology that didn’t work very well, as it lost millions of dollars in six months of operation. Several factors seem to indicate things will get worse. Complex machinery doesn’t benefit from idleness. It will take great pay to entice workers to a facility that has to be dirty and smelly. Costs of transportation have skyrocketed. There’s no huge new demand for recycled materials. The towns should forget the Hampden plant and, if necessary, put money into improving PERC, which isn’t fancy but has worked for years. ~ Lawrence E. Merrill, Bangor