Talk:Old Town paper mill

Landfill leachate

I don't fully understand this situation yet, but it appears that the paper plant has some kind of deal to treat (or not-quite-treat) landfill runoff for the local landfill?? What a weird arrangement. [1]Larataguera (talk) 15:55, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

That is interesting. And indeed weird. I added it to the article. At risk of WP:NOTAFORUM indeed weird, but my research to write the article yesterday did give me the impression that the town really relied on the mill for tax revenue and employment so may be run on a shoestring budget so I can see why, in USA, the incentives towards private-sector solution for public sector issues exist. CT55555(talk) 16:03, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

Seems like the landfill is notable too! https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2022-03-18/maines-landfill-is-meant-for-in-state-waste-heres-how-massachusetts-and-nh-are-filling-it-up CT55555(talk) 16:09, 25 August 2023 (UTC)

Here's a document written up by a committee from the state legislature about the landfill agreement converting on-site mill waste disposal into a general municipal waste landfill – (which then apparently began to operate as a for-profit venture accepting out-of-state waste, maybe illegally?). This source is not exactly NPOV, but I'd think it would be a reliable source for the order of events that led to this "bizarre" arrangement. (Their words, not mine!). Larataguera (talk) 22:53, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

I've added it to the external links for now. CT55555(talk) 23:00, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

I observe consensus on Wikipedia to treat published academic papers as reliable, even if there is independence issues due to the peer review process. But I'll read and consider carefully before using it as a source. CT55555(talk) 23:02, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

I think I had gotten a little confused about the origin of that document. It does appear to come from the University of Maine. Larataguera (talk) 23:42, 26 August 2023 (UTC)