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Town of Falmouth Sustainability Newsletter - Business Edition

A publication of the Recycling and Energy Advisory Committee
Posted on: March 22, 2022 - 9:03am
Falmouth Town Landing
Photo Credit: Carrie Aube

BUSINESS EDITION 

Falmouth is fortunate to have over 300 businesses within our community, plus countless residents that play key, decision-making roles at their places of work. This newsletter to dedicated to resources that businesses can use to reduce their carbon footprint and save money at the same time. From electric vehicle incentives to waste reduction resources, there are actions at all levels that businesses can take. Also, did you know that Falmouth recognizes businesses that are taking sustainable actions? Learn more about the Sustainable Business Recognition Program.

Lastly, we would like to hear from you, our local businesses, to better understand the actions that you currently take. This will help us to provide the most applicable and useful resources to support local business carbon reduction goals.  Please take our business waste management survey.

Incentives and Rebates

Building Energy Efficiency

Efficiency Maine is the administrator for programs to improve the efficiency of energy use and reduce greenhouse gases in Maine, and they offer many business-specific incentives and rebates to help businesses transition to more energy efficient solutions, including:

Electric Vehicles and Chargers

EV chargers serve as an amenity to customers and staff, and can help to attract new business. They also show a commitment to the future and clean, renewable energy. If your business is interested in installing an EV charger, there are many resources and some rebates available.

Special Limited Promotion for Business Fleets

Interested in getting an electric vehicle for your business? Efficiency Maine recently announced a limited time promotion for businesses on the purchase of up to 10 vehicles with the following rebates:

  • $4,500 for a NEW Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV, all-electric vehicle) 
  • $3,500 for a NEW Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV, hybrid gas/electric vehicle)
  • $8,000 for a NEW Battery Electric Work Van (BEV, all-electric vehicle, Cargo Van)
  • $5,000 for a NEW Battery Electric Work Van (BEV, all-electric vehicle, Chassis Cab or Cutaway)

There are 50 rebates available, on a first-come, first-served basis. Eligible fleets must have 5 or more vehicles. To learn more and to see if your business is eligible, visit Efficiency Maine's vehicle rebate webpage.

Waste Reduction

Waste management can be a fulltime job for many businesses, navigating private hauler contracts, waste solutions, and cost, but making time to think about how to reduce waste, and divert it from the landfill, can be a worthwhile task from both a budget and environmental perspective.

RECYCLE: Separating recyclable items from the waste stream can make a huge impact on the environment and save your business money – it is often cheaper to dispose of recycling than garbage. Talk to your waste hauler on how to add recycling to your service contract. Waste haulers that offer recycling services and are licensed to serve Falmouth businesses:

COMPOST: Heavy food waste can contribute a lot to your waste management costs, and is incredibly inefficient for ecomaine to incinerate. Falmouth is served by multiple compost pick-up services to divert this waste from the incinerator:

REMINDER:The Town of Falmouth requires that all solid waste generated in Falmouth be delivered to ecomaine (See ordinance language). Please confirm with your private hauler that your waste is being brought to ecomaine.

Sustainable Business Recognition Program

To recognize Falmouth businesses who are making extraordinary contributions toward sustainability goals, the Recycling and Energy Advisory Committee has instituted an award to recognize businesses who have demonstrated outstanding commitment. In addition, businesses who are interested in becoming more sustainable, can look to award winners to learn from and understand how they can meet their own energy saving and sustainability goals. Learn more about the program.

Final thought

“Compostable” Plastic: Is it really? Unfortunately, in most cases, no. While using bioplastics, such as Greenware, is well-intentioned, very specific conditions are necessary for these items to breakdown, and these conditions can’t be achieved in your backyard pile. Based on some outreach to our area commercial composters, we’ve learned that bioplastics can cause issues even at large facilities and have been advised to limit the use of “compostable” plastics. To add to the issue, bioplastics are also not recyclable, so they cannot be added to your curbside recycling bin. Until this technology improves, we recommend using reusable cups, plates and utensils whenever possible, and when that isn’t possible, purchase non-coated paper plates and cups, which can be composted, or single use plasticware that can be recycled. Checkout the ecomaine Recyclopedia for what can and can’t be recycled.