Woolwich special town meeting voters on Sept. 5 agreed to a 20-year contract with ecomaine for processing solid waste and recycling. The 25 to 30 voters who attended also approved taking $19,000 from the town’s undesignated fund balance for an engineering study of a bridge on George Wright Road.

“There was no debate and no argument on either article,” Select Board Chairman David King Sr. said Sept. 6. “The Solid Waste and Recycling Committee recommended the 20-year contract which is what I wanted to do from the start.” King said the select board unanimously supported both articles.

Terms of the contract are the same as for a 10-year agreement, with annual increases based on Consumer Price Index-urban (CPI-U). The recycling contract stays the same, cost-sharing or revenue sharing changes monthly.

Selectman Allison Hepler told the Wiscasset Newspaper the contract holds the tipping fees for solid waste at the town’s current price, $58.72per ton plus an annual CPI-U for the next three years, at which time it would increase to $70.50 plus three years’ worth of accumulated and deferred CPI-U increases. The tipping fee for the remaining years of the contract would continue to rise from the $70.50 tipping fee plus annual CPI-U. Hepler said ecomaine couldn’t guarantee these prices for a contract renewed yearly.

“The prices are actually substantially lower than what the town was paying for its solid waste disposal for its previous contract with another vendor,” she added.

Hepler said she was somewhat skeptical of extending the contract longer than 10 years. “After attending the public informational meeting and hearing the feedback from attendees and members of the Solid Waste Committee, including its chairman Jonathan Appleyard, I was persuaded of the value of the 20-year contract,” she wrote in an email to the newspaper.

During the town meeting, Lissa Bittermann of ecomaine talked about the latest innovations in the solid waste and recycling industry.

“We need people to be thinking about reducing their own trash volumes by reusing, recycling and composting rather than relying entirely on curbside pickup,” Hepler added. “ecomaine in my mind, is a responsible and responsive company and I support their mission. I believe the Town is in good hands with them.”

A representative from Riverside Recycling and Disposal didn’t attend the town meeting but King said the Chelsea-based company indicated it would consider a 10-year contract for providing the town with curbside trash and recycling pickup.

“Nobody could come up with a good reason not to go for the long-term contract,” Selectman Dale Chadbourne told the newspaper. “We’ll see how it goes, but over the long haul, I think it was the right thing to do for the town.”

King said Calderwood Engineering of Richmond will conduct the bridge study. Following an inspection last January, the Maine Department of Transportation gave the structure a “poor” rating due to erosion of its embankments and deterioration of the structure.

The small stone span built in 1934 resembles a stone culvert and is located near the south entrance of George Wright Road. King hopes the study will be completed before the end of the year. “Our goal is to be first in line when the time comes to apply for any grant monies that might be available to help replace the bridge.”