BIDDEFORD — The city’s downtown trash incinerator will soon be greener and cleaner, according to an announcement from a task force which was initially charged with finding a way to close the facility.

While plans do not include the closure of the Maine Energy Recovery Company, task force members announced at a press conference in City Council Chambers on Wednesday that the front end processing plant of Maine Energy will move out of city and a new “green zone” will be created at the downtown Biddeford site.

That will eliminate more than half the truck traffic to Maine Energy, said James Bohlig, president of Casella Renewables, a division of Casella Waste Systems, Inc., which owns Maine Energy. As well, odor ”“ one of the problems most associated with the plant ”“ will be greatly reduced, he said.

The task force members, appointed by Gov. John Baldacci, which include local government and state officials and representatives from the incinerator’s parent company Casella Waste Systems, Inc., began meeting in May.

Task force co-chair and Biddeford Mayor Joanne Twomey said she has worked toward closure of Maine Energy since it first moved to the city.

When she first met Bohlig as mayor, Twomey said she asked, “How do I get you out of here? How do I get my downtown to flourish?”

Maine Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner John Richardson, co-chair of the task force, said when the group first began meeting, “we were questioning whether we would succeed” and members spent the first weeks building trust.

On Wednesday, all task force members expressed enthusiasm for the new developments.

According to Bohlig, trash will be brought to another community, which has not yet been named. New technology, which is already in use in a plant Casella owns in Charlestown, Mass., will be used to separate trash and weed out the recyclable material. The rest will be turned into pellets which will be trucked to Biddeford to burn.

Bohlig said recycling will increase up to about 40 percent and trash will be reduced. He said Biddeford could be a model not only for Maine but for the nation because all communities need to learn to do things differently and reduce carbon emissions.

This will benefit the mill district, said Richardson, because a cleaner and greener Maine Energy will lead to more development of that area. It will also provide a cost-effective energy source for the area.

The new processing plant is dependent on permitting, stimulus or other money and the availability of another location. The new plans will take a minimum of 18 months to become a reality.

Immediate plans call for Maine Energy to establish an energy cooperative to provide power to residents and small businesses at reduced costs. Beginning in January, this could save Biddeford residents as much as $400 on their energy bills. Saco may also reap some benefits.

In addition, Maine Energy will offer to convert its waste heat to the mill district owners to supplement their heating supplies at a reduced cost. Part of the plan also includes Citizens Energy, a Massachusetts-based organization which provides assistance to low-income people, which will provide weatherization and other energy-saving opportunities to some community members.

“There are still a lot of moving parts,” said Twomey. “This is just the beginning.”

One person who wasn’t at the press conference was Saco’s former mayor Mark Johnston, who has been an adversary of Maine Energy for years, even taking Casella to court for odor issues. He said the plans announced don’t solve what he views as fundamental problems such as bringing out-of-state waste into Maine to dispose of, or closing the facility, which will still incinerate and release dangerous chemicals into the air.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.