Staff Writer 

 To save money, and protect the environment, Cape Elizabeth Town Councilors are considering a variety of measures, ranging from increasing recycling to alternative energy sources. 

Cape Elizabeth Town Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta said the town’s recycling committee “considered a lot of things,” including curbside pickup and a pay-per-bag program to encourage residents to “go green.” Ultimately, she said the group decided to recommend initiating a recycling education program – estimated to save $18,000 in waste-related costs – a change in the recycling center hours and a new ordianance requiring residents to recycle.

“We don’t have anything on the books,” she said. “[A recycling ordinance] would put a little bit of teeth in there. It’s something that affects the town, so we should have some rules about it.”

On Monday, the council unanimously approved reducing the hours of operation for the recycling center on Wednesdays and Thursdays, a change Swift-Kayatta said was “purely economical” and could result in an immediate savings of $14,000 for the town. Now the recycling center will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Residents will have a chance to weigh in on the committee’s other proposals during a public forum scheduled Feb. 9.

 Residents may have less time to drop off their leaves and other composting material at the recycling center, but for the next five years they will continue to be taken by the William H. Jordan farm, an arrangement Town Manager Michael McGovern called a “win-win all the way around.”

“The Jordans do all of the work involved,” he said. “They take [the compost] away and then they sell it. It saves us money and is helping to preserve one of Cape Elizabeth’s family farms. It has been a wonderful relationship.”

The council unanimously approved extending the contract with the Jordan Farm until 2015 and some councilors expressed an interest in broadening the scope of the town’s composting efforts, which do not currently include food waste.

“What else is compostable?” Councilor Paul McKenney asked. “Is there any opportunity to do some more recycling?”

William H. Jordan Farm employee Carol-Anne Jordan said the Jordan family composts their own food waste but cannot accept large amounts at the recycling center without obtaining new permits from the Department of Environmental Protection. McGovern said accepting food waste could also result in an increase in the vermin population at the recycling center. 

“Anything’s open for discussion,” Jordan said. “The more we recycle the better.”

Members of the town’s alternative energy committee are less concerned about what is composted into the ground as they are about what goes into the air. Their report, including recommendations for energy audits for all municipal buildings and the erection of an anemometer to study the viability of wind turbines, was unanimously accepted by the council on Monday. 

“The energy audit is going on right now,” committee chairman Bill Slack said. “It’s primarily focused on the schools, they are the biggest energy user in town. They use 150,000 gallons of oil a year.”

To reduce the school’s carbon footprint, the committee’s report suggests installing a woodfired boiler. Slack said the committee considered natural gas, geothermal and solar heating alternatives but they were ultimately deemed too expensive. 

Committee member Wyman Briggs said the group was scheduled to meet with a wind engineer later this week to discuss the size and location of a wind turbine to generate power for municipal buildings.

“In looking for funding, I know the Obama administration is going to be providing some funding for energy efficient infrastructure,” Slack said. “The timing’s never been better.”

The council did not take action on the committee’s recommendations and Council Chairman Jim Rowe suggested the council revisit the issue once the energy audit and wind study are completed.