Municipal Waste Hub: Invested in Innovation
- Evan Richert
- 7 days ago
- 2 min read
Municipal Waste Hub, headquartered at the UpStart Center for Entrepreneurship, represents 115 municipalities that have contracted to have their municipal solid waste (MSW) processed at the Hub’s recycling and waste recovery facility in Hampden. It manages a forward-looking, solid waste management system that will help Maine meet its goal of 50% recycling.
Municipal WasteHub has a strategic partnership with Innovative Resource Recovery, a national firm focused on the recovery of solid waste resources, in the ownership and management of the Hampden facility, known as Municipal Waste Solutions. According to Executive Director Michael Carroll, from 2023-2025, they completed a $22 million investment at Municipal Waste Solutions, including:
Material recovery facility (MRF) using advanced screening and optical sorting to recover recyclables from single streams
Handling of bulky waste items, tires, and construction & demolition debris
Anaerobic digester to produce natural gas, which is delivered directly into a natural gas network of pipelines
At full operation, the facility diverts a minimum of 50% of collected solid waste from landfills.
The original operator struggled financially, resulting in the plant's closure in 2020. It reopened as a transfer station in 2025 and became fully operational in June 2026. Reaching full operational capacity is a Herculean achievement by the Municipal Waste Hub’s staff, its strategic partners, and the nine-member board of directors, which represents municipalities and related organizations.
Municipal WasteHub uses a hub-and-spoke model to collect solid waste at transfer stations around the region and transport it to Municipal Waste Solutions. It maintains a transportation division that optimizes routing and logistics while reducing the system's carbon footprint.
Carroll states the company chose the Center as its headquarters due to its professional management and upkeep, as well as its convenient regional location in Orono's Technology Park. The Upstart Center is pleased to host this innovation-minded organization with a vital public mission.
