Waste study cited in Press Herald article on recycling-to-energy program
A 2011 waste characterization study by the University of Maine School of Economics was cited in a Portland Press Herald article about a new food waste recycling program that launched in Portland. The program aims to trigger the next big advance in southern Maine’s municipal trash business: collection of household kitchen scraps and other organic waste, according to the article. The UMaine study found kitchen scraps, expired produce and other food waste make up about 30 percent of the trash Mainers throw out. Removing the food items from the waste stream is seen as a key way to reach a statewide goal to recycle half of the state’s waste stream by 2021, the article states.