Maine will decide on public benefit of Juniper Ridge landfill by August

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection will decide by August 23 whether a proposed expansion of the state’s largest landfill would provide a substantial benefit to the public, a required step before the landfill’s manager, the state’s Bureau of General Services, can apply to increase the capacity of the facility.

If approved, the expansion will add 11 years to the operating capacity of Juniper Ridge, which takes in roughly half of the state’s waste, and add 61 acres to its footprint.

Without the expansion, Juniper Ridge will run out of room by early 2028, Lisa Turner, an engineer with Sevee & Maher, told a small crowd gathered for a hearing on the issue earlier this week.

Juniper Ridge is owned by the state and managed by the Bureau of General Services, which contracts with NEWSME Landfill Operations, LLC for operations, a division of the massive waste management firm Casella.

Built in 1996, the landfill, which takes in roughly 1 million cubic yards of waste each year, was expanded by 9.35 million cubic yards in 2017. This proposed expansion would add another 11.9 million cubic yards.

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