Recycling & Waste Reduction
Falmouth sends all of the Town's municipal solid waste and recycling to ecomaine. ecomaine serves 70+ communities and manages solid waste needs, using a waste-to energy (WTE) power plant, a single-sort recycling center and a 274 acre landfill/ashfill. They monitor water and air emissions to assure that none of their operations adversely impact the surrounding environment.
More information about ecomaine and what CAN and CAN'T be recycled:
- All about ecomaine brochure
- RECYCLOPEDIA is a search engine that can be downloaded right on your smartphone!
- Recycling DOS and DONTs
- Recycling DOS and DONTS videos
- ecomaine’s Tours and Educational Outreach
Plastic Film
Plastic film cannot be recycled in your blue bin or brought to ecomaine, but there are local locations that accept it, including Hannaford and Shaw's.
- Use this directory to find the most convenient plastic film dropoff location for you!
- Learn what plastic film can be recycled.
Recycling Information
Falmouth has held a strong recycling rate for years. In 2018, the Town's total recycling rate (curbside and transfer station drop off combined) was 64.89%.
For solid waste and recycling totals, see the image below:
Compost/Food Waste Program
The Town recently expanded the compost (food waste) drop off program. There is one kiosk at the Transfer Station, and another at Community Park. This service is free for all Falmouth residents. The program has successfully diverted nearly 16 TONS of food waste in 2019! Learn more about Falmouth's Food Waste Program here.
Recycling Contamination and 2019 Summer Interns
Falmouth, Windham, South Portland, and Scarborough partnered with ecomaine and the University of Southern Maine (USM) to implement a summer recycling bin tagging program with student interns in 2019. This partnership was a result of recent changes in global recycling markets, and the challenges local municipalities have had to respond to with contaminated recycling streams. Most communities hired two interns, and South Portland hired four. All of the interns gathered on Mondays at USM to discuss their observations during the previous week, and also received a writing prompt as this work related to “social based marketing”. All residents in the program were notified by mail and provided information about the colored tags that were used during the bin inspection process. In the first half of the program, the two interns tagged in the Stapleford neighborhood (139 households) on Tuesdays and were in the “Flats” (194 households) on Wednesdays. In the second half of the program, the interns tagged in the Town Landing neighborhood (162 households) on Wednesdays and in the Brookside neighborhood (137 households) on Thursdays. Collectively, this program has educated 632 residents on proper recycling.
See the program highlights below, and for the full presentation to the Town Council, follow this link:
