In 2026, Greater Bangor residents’ trash will be recycled for the first time in more than five years.
Municipal Waste Solutions, a facility in Hampden that serves 115 towns and cities, is bringing recycling equipment online by March, Municipal WasteHub Executive Director Michael Carroll said.
Greater Bangor communities have been without recycling since 2020 when the Coastal Resources of Maine plant in Hampden closed down after operating for about six months. The plant, reopened earlier this year as Municipal Waste Solutions by Municipal WasteHub, is going to begin recycling at least 50% of all trash it receives in 2026.
A material recovery facility, or a MRF (pronounced ‘murph’), will be used to sort trash from the 115 communities. The MRF was meant to be running by the end of this year, but tariffs slowed down receiving parts of the system, Carroll said.
The final pieces are coming in now, meaning recycling will be back as soon as everything is put together and brought online.
“I mean, there might be some ramp up, you know. Some dials needing tweaking, some bugs to be worked out here and there. But once the MRF is turned on, we are recycling,” Carroll said.
Residents of the 115 communities spread across Penobscot, Washington, Hancock, Waldo and Aroostook counties can still throw trash and recycling in the same bag, Carroll said.
That’s because all trash taken to the facility will go through six sorting cameras that will identify what the material is and put it on the correct conveyor belt for sorting.
“Whatever you throw in your kitchen garbage bag is what this facility processes and turns into other products and recycles and reuses,” Carroll said.
The facility is working to educate residents about throwing away bulky waste like tires and mattresses, which Carroll said could damage Municipal Waste Solutions’ sorting equipment.
Municipal Waste Solutions will also bring a 6-to-7 million gallon anaerobic digester online by the end of 2026. The digester will break down organic waste and fiber products like paper into natural gas, Carroll said, adding it to a pipeline connected to the facility.
Along with bringing recycling back to the area and creating natural gas, Municipal WasteHub is trying to limit its carbon emissions by implementing its own transportation division.
A fleet of semitrucks will pick up trash from communities’ transfer stations and bring it to the Hampden facility, Carroll said.
“It’s going to optimize logistics and optimize load capacities. So, that’s been a game changer for us,” he said.
Another change coming to Greater Bangor in 2026 is that Eagle Point Energy Center in Orrington will complete repairs to its incineration equipment, according to the most recent repair schedule provided to the Maine Department of Energy in August.
The scheduled repairs are needed because of a multi-day fire that broke out in a trash pile in the tipping floor in 2024.
The DEP is expecting a revised schedule in the near future, said David Madore, deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
EPEC is currently serving as a transfer station, as is Municipal Waste Solutions, but will be able to generate electricity through incineration when the repairs are completed.
EPEC Majority Owner Evan Coleman did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town, which is set to be out of space by 2028, is also looking to expand, but no date is set yet.
