I will start by sharing that I live in Camden, not Saco, but almost every other Saturday this past summer I made one or two trips to the Saco Recycling Center. I have been helping a friend clean out a large garage and a basement where “stuff” has been resting unattended, unused, and accumulating dust and rust for the last 40 years. You see, I have a small, old, Ford Ranger pickup truck perfect for Saturday “dump runs.”

I have lived in South China, Appleton, Newcastle, Damariscotta, Bath, Hope, Wilton, and Camden over the last 50 years. Having moved more than the average number of times, I have experienced many town dumps, waste stations, transfer stations, and recycling centers. While I am clearly not an expert, I have had diverse experiences and can even recall when the town dump in South China was open 24 hours a day, unattended by a town employee, and it was not uncommon for a summer Saturday’s evening’s entertainment to include visiting the dump to shoot rats with a 22 rifle using the car’s headlights to see.

The Saco Recycling Center is by far and away, the nicest, most friendly, cleanest, and easiest to use town recycling center I have ever experienced. One easily drives up to the large dumpsters – for metal, demo, and more, as well as the grass, brush, and wood piles. As a senior citizen who doesn’t see as well as he used to, the broad spaces, cone markers, and striped guidelines are a blessing. On several occasions, town employees have helped with an item too heavy for me to lift, or brought the front-end loader to the truck to make unloading easier. They even jumped started a dead battery one Saturday. I write this brief note to thank and congratulate the people of Saco on having a wonderful public service that benefits my friend’s family and makes helping out in a time of need a joy.