After years of work, the organization representing more than 100 Maine communities that send their trash to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. plant in Orrington is set to break ground on its share of a new solid waste plant in Hampden.

Next week, the Municipal Review Committee will hold a groundbreaking ceremony where it is building the road and infrastructure to the new plant, which will convert trash to biofuels. The Hampden plant will be built by Fiberight, a Maryland-based company.

The ceremony is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday across from the HO Bouchard Inc. office on 349 Coldbrook Road in Hampden. Member communities are invited to attend.

Among those attending will be Hampden Mayor David Ryder, Fiberight CEO Craig Stuart-Paul, MRC officials and project supporters, according to a news release from the committee.

The new plant is intended to be a solution to the increased tipping fees the Municipal Review Committee’s communities would face after its contract with PERC ends in 2018. At that time, PERC’s contract to provide energy to Emera Maine at above-market rates also comes to a close, forcing its tipping fees up. The committee board decided that the most financially viable option for its member communities would be the yet-to-be-built plant in Hampden.

The communities the MRC will represent after 2018 are paying to build the road to the planned site and its infrastructure as part of the agreement with Fiberight. The cost, estimated at $5 million, will be paid using money from the tipping fee stabilization fund, which has more than $20 million. Construction is expected to continue through January and resume again in April.

The communities will own the parcel, while Fiberight and its backers will build and operate the solid waste plant.

Fiberight has yet to announce that it has closed on its loans. But Greg Lounder, executive director of the Municipal Review Committee, said it was typical for backers to wait until permits are finalized. PERC filed an appeal in Kennebec County Superior Court calling for the reversal of the permits, which is causing a delay in the process.

Municipal Review Committee officials have said the appeal wasn’t a surprise, and that it won’t affect the plans to complete the facility by April 2018.

Madeline St. Amour can be contacted at 861-9239 or at:

mstamour@centralmaine.com

Twitter: madelinestamour