Nature operates in cycles — materials flow through plants and animals with no waste and no landfills. Find ways to compost and recycle and reuse, so your household operates more like nature.
Before recycling, look for a way to reduce, borrow, repair, share, donate, or buy used.
Borrow occasional-use items from Curtis instead of buying and storing them. Check the current guidelines for cardholder requirements, loan periods, renewals, and item-specific borrowing rules.
Library of Things guidelinesCurtis maintains local repair and swap information, including repair-cafe events and swaps for unused or gently used consumable items. Check the repair page for upcoming dates and accepted item types.
Repair Cafe informationUse the local Freecycle town group to offer usable items for free or look for something a neighbor no longer needs before buying new.
Freecycle TopshamThe 7 Rivers Maine ReStore in Bath sells donated building materials, appliances, furniture, and home goods, and accepts in-person donation drop-offs during posted donation hours.
Habitat ReStoreGoodwill Northern New England operates local store and donation centers at 21 Gurnet Road in Brunswick and 106 Park Drive at Topsham Fair Mall.
Goodwill locationsRules vary by hauler and transfer station. Use this guide for the local setup, then follow the town page or transfer-station attendant when details conflict.
Arrowsic provides curbside trash and mandatory zero-sort recycling on alternating weeks. Use bins with the town recycling sticker, keep materials clean and dry, and do not bag recycling.
Bath publishes curbside recycling routes and accepted materials on the city waste-reduction page. Blue bins and recycling drop-off are available at the Bath landfill.
Bowdoin partners with Casella for zero-sort recycling at the town recycling center. Residents bring clean paper, cardboard, glass bottles and jars, metal cans, and plastic bottles, jugs, tubs, and lids to the designated bin.
Bowdoinham recycling is drop-off at the Public Works facility on 121 Pond Road. Curbside trash pickup is separate and requires purchased trash tags; recycling is not collected curbside.
Brunswick provides weekly curbside single-stream recycling and Pay-As-You-Throw trash collection. Overflow trash, recycling, construction debris, electronics, and universal waste may go to Casella West Bath for a fee.
Durham's solid-waste page directs residents to automated trash-collection updates and Casella recycling guidance. Durham residents may also use the Freeport Transfer Station for many bulky and recyclable materials with an annual sticker.
Freeport residents can use the transfer station and recycling center at 100 Hedgehog Mountain Road or hire a licensed private hauler. Single-sort recyclables brought to the transfer station go to ecomaine, and an annual facility sticker is required.
Georgetown residents use the 64 Bay Point Road transfer station and recycling center. A current permit sticker is required, and recycling is mandatory for listed materials.
Harpswell has no municipal curbside trash pickup. Residents bring trash and recyclables to the A. Dennis Moore Recycling Center and Transfer Station with a valid decal.
Lisbon residents use the transfer and recycling center at 14 Capital Avenue in Lisbon Falls. Sticker permits are required, and materials are sorted into designated areas.
Phippsburg residents and guests with permits use the transfer station at 58 Sam Day Hill Road for household trash and recycling.
Pownal has automated weekly Friday curbside trash and recycling through Casella. Use town-issued carts with lids closed; bulky items do not belong in carts.
Topsham residents use the solid waste facility at 97 Townsend Way. Municipal solid waste is pay-per-bag; recycling center materials include glass, plastic, paper, wood chips, and waste oil.
West Bath residents use the Casella-operated transfer station at 64 Arthur J. Reno Sr Road for free recycling drop-off and fee-based household trash with a town sticker.
Woolwich offers a town curbside recycling program, with pickup on Tuesday or Wednesday depending on location. Household trash is handled by private haulers.
Composting is a sustainable way to decompose anything that was once alive back into soil, including food scraps and yard trimmings, keeping valuable materials out of landfills and preventing pollution.
Best for fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, leaves, and other yard waste you can manage on site.
Keep meat, fish, dairy, fats, oils, pet waste, ash, glass, plastic, and metal out of backyard piles.
A subscription service collects food scraps at your home. Bath and Brunswick list Garbage to Garden as an available curbside option.
Follow the hauler's accepted-material list; service areas and prices can change.
Some towns provide bins, kiosks, or transfer-station composting for residents. These programs often accept more food types than backyard composting.
Use only the town-approved site and check whether a sticker or resident access rule applies.
Composting options vary sharply by town. When a municipal food-scrap program is not listed, home composting is still useful for suitable scraps and yard waste.
Arrowsic strongly encourages backyard composting of food and yard waste to reduce disposal costs and emissions. The town page says yard waste is not collected.
Bath lists backyard composting, optional Garbage to Garden curbside collection, and self-serve compost kiosks at Bath Public Works and the Lemont Street community garden.
Bowdoin's recycling-center guidance keeps food waste and liquids out of recycling and points residents toward local food-waste programs where available or backyard composting.
Bowdoinham's solid-waste section links a Composting at Home resource through the Solid Waste and Recycling department.
Brunswick offers free food-waste drop-off for residents at Public Works and the Recreation Center. The town says both sites are accessible 24/7.
Durham's solid-waste page did not list a municipal food-scrap drop-off or curbside compost program.
Freeport's transfer-station FAQ says residents can put food waste in green totes at the transfer station or in food-waste containers behind the Public Safety building on West Street.
Georgetown's transfer-station page did not list a municipal food-scrap composting program.
Harpswell's recycling-center page says the facility accepts materials for composting and links a Composting Program, Composting Guide, and composter-sales information.
Lisbon's transfer-station information lists a grass/leaves-for-compost area. Materials must be free from wood, rocks, branches, and other foreign objects.
Phippsburg's transfer-station page did not list a municipal food-scrap composting program.
Pownal's solid-waste page did not list a municipal food-scrap drop-off or curbside compost program.
Topsham's solid-waste page did not list a municipal food-scrap composting program.
West Bath's waste page says composting is available behind Town Hall and links a composting flyer.
Woolwich's waste and recycle page did not list a municipal food-scrap composting program; it does say recyclables containing food waste are not accepted.
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