Surprise. Disbelief. Angst. Frustration. These four words describe the reaction on the peninsula to the news: the Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District would no longer accept leaves and lawn clippings from homeowners or commercial landscaping and lawn care businesses.

At that March meeting, the trustees themselves were not united on the decision, Bruce Cameron and Tom Carbone voted against the May 1 cessation date.

The April 13 meeting was attended by a handful of members from the community, encouraged, as they always had been, to come up with alternatives to the BRRDD decision.

Several ideas were brought to the table and the trustees agreed to follow up on all of them.

The outcome of their research was discussed when they met on May 8.

Trustee Palmer Payne and Operations Manager Steve Lewis attended the meeting of the county commissioners, overseers of Lincoln County Recycling (LCR), to explore the possibility of bringing the compost materials there.

The commissioners had a meeting with the state planning office and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and visited LCR to inspect their enlarged pad.

Lewis reported that County Administrator Jim McMann is drawing up a memorandum of understanding to outline what is expected of the BRRDD, i.e., leaves and clippings cannot be in bags or contain rocks or any other foreign objects.

McMann said it would be helpful if he and Thompson attended a BRRDD meeting once the memo had been completed to discuss its contents.

Lewis asked if BRRDD collected the materials from homeowners and contractors brought it directly to LCR. Their response was no - everything must arrive at LCR via BRRDD.

Lewis informed the trustees of the influx of residents, since Boothbay Harbor's town meeting, calling or stopping in and asking him what they are going to do with their leaves.

Lewis presented the options he had been contemplating. First option: buy some Jersey barriers and create an area to collect the leaves for transport to LCR. The barriers would take one-to-two weeks to arrive and then open the area and accept leaves from the residents.

Accept them from the contractors, but charge an annual permit fee or a flat fee per truck, $100 to $200.

"If we charge $100 to $200, it would cover the lost revenue from sending it to Wiscasset," Lewis said. "And we take it from the homeowners for free."

Dan Giles, of Giles Rubbish, Inc. was in attendance and shared his interpretation of the option, as a contractor who has a few clients, who use his services for this purpose.

"Ask yourselves what is different about the compost now, as compared to two or three years ago when everyone really wanted it."

Lewis said it was probably five years ago when the facility saw a huge demand for compost - sometimes it would be gone in one day. In recent years, it doesn't go that quickly or in very large quantities. And, some people do compost at home. Payne said he has been doing it for years on his small lot in the Harbor.

Lewis said the surplus of compost and compost materials may be due to its poor quality.

Chairman Rob Hopkins added that it is full of bamboo, poison ivy, and other "junk" that is mixed in with the grass and leaves when they arrive.

Another reason for poor product is the lack of room to actually row the increased amounts of materials into compost - aeration is a vital part of its creation, and that leads to compromised quality.

"I'm not trying to give you guys a hard time - all I'm asking is that you guys be fair," said Giles. "Think about who you are really charging; the contractors can pass the cost on to the homeowner. And, the homeowner is paying taxes on their property that should take care of this type of thing.

Giles said charging one group and not the other was discriminatory. "Are you charging for the material or are you charging because that guy (contractor) is making money?"

Giles added that the action proposed could potentially take some money out of the pockets of the smaller contractors. A homeowner could decide to begin bringing the materials to the facility themselves to avoid being charged by the contractor.

Giles also noted that when it came to bringing CDB (construction, demolition or bulky) materials to the facility, it didn't matter whether it was a homeowner or contractor bringing it - both parties had to pay the fee.

The board agreed Giles made some fair points and decided that, if all goes well with LCR, for the time being, there would not be a charge for anyone to bring the leaves back to the facility.

The leaves and clippings that were brought to BRRDD before the May 1 deadline would have to be trucked away - probably to Morse Brothers in Lewiston.

Not LCR, you ask? No. If all the leaves that were at the BRRDD were taken to LCR as soon as/if the agreement goes through, what exists now would take up all of the available space at LCR for the Boothbay peninsula's request.

This would bring the BRRDD, and the community, back to square one: what would be done with the leaves and clippings to come this summer?

Lewis's quandary is figuring out how to make sure the amount of leaves and clippings arrive in a slow manner giving each load enough time to break down enough to create space for subsequent truckloads.

"So we take the existing pile to Morse Brothers in Lewiston," said Lewis. "We can do that with an open-top, which would take more than one trip. If we had a used live floor trailer, we would have enough room to haul 100 yards at one time."

The BRRDD does not currently own a live floor, but to save on fuel usage for the multiple trips that would be required using open tops, perhaps the facility should.

Lewis had recently seen two such used trailers for sale in a listing of repossessions he received in the mail. One was listed at $12,000 and the other, $7,500.

The board authorized Lewis to check out the live floor trailers with a spending cap of $17,500.

The board authorized Lewis's purchase of eight Jersey barriers to be used to create a bunker for leaves - loose, no bags - should the LCR option become a reality.

Free Compost - Pick Up Times

Operating on the assumption that the agreement with LCR will become finite, Lewis said the best way to make more room is to offer some year-old compost behind the pile of loose and bagged leaves brought prior to the May 1 deadline.

BRRDD employees will load the compost for residents or they can load it themselves from now until May 31.

Wood chips are also available for $15 (up $5) per small pickup truck or three cubic yards, and $60 (up $20) for larger, tri-axle trucks.

Residents coming to the facility for a bucket of two may get them for free.

Trustee Palmer Payne commented on the higher quality of the BRRDD's wood chips this year. This is due to the smaller size that is produced by the horizontal grinder.

Since the site visit by Bill Butler of the DEP in April, employees have been keeping a keen eye on the woodpile.

DEP employee Bill Butler discovered pieces of pressure treated wood in the wood chip pile and cited the facility for the offense.

Maine Solid Waste Management requires the exclusion of pressure-treated woods from non-treated wood because the latter is used in biomass energy creation.

The DEP's return visit yielded satisfactory results - only a few miniscule pieces were observed.

BRRDD also received high marks for assigning employees to keep an eye on the wood being added to the woodpile - in addition to their usual duties.

The amount of time employees must devote to ensuring that those dumping wood into the pile are not mixing prompted a discussion on whether or not to hire a seasonal person for this job.

Carbone said since this seasonal person would not receive benefits, it might be a cost-effective alternative to using an employee who can operate the machinery and perform other tasks at the facility.

Payne questioned whether they would find a seasonal person who knew the difference between pressure-treated and non-pressure treated wood.

Although Lewis said they had been doing just fine as they were, during the summer months having someone else to watch the wood being unloaded seemed a good idea.

The position will be advertised.

Mickey Wells, the independent contractor who trucks the BRRDD's wood chips, has been hired to replace Rob Ames who has taken a job with Maine Yankee. Ames' last day was May 1.

A new tri-fold recycling brochure has been created to replace the version created in 2002. The new brochure informs users on which areas are for each recyclable item and a list of all of the items that can be recycled at the facility. Copies may be picked up at the district office.

The next BRRDD meeting will be held on Thursday, June 12 at 5 p.m. at the district office.