BLOOMBERG • March 9, 2021
As U.S. cities struggle to rein in garbage while propping up pricey recycling efforts, more companies are profiting from America’s growing waste problem and leaving local communities to face the environmental consequences. In 2019, Maine’s waste generation increased 2.5% to more than 1.8 million tons compared with the year prior, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. But hundreds of thousands of tons of additional waste arrived from other states, dumped at the Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town. “The issue is it’s all perfectly legal,” said Sarah Nichols, a program director with environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Council of Maine.