New England Public Radio

Pittsfield city officials are trying to figure out their next step with the city’s trash incinerator poised to shut down in March. Covanta the operator of the waste-to-energy facility, says economic conditions are causing them to close the plant. This news has been met with applause by environmentalists and has sent at least one business scrambling.

The incinerator isn’t much on the eyes. It’s a gray, concrete building with several small chimneys on the roof and a large smoke stack next to it, the output of which you can see from a distance during the cold Berkshire winter. Along with commercial customers, Pittsfield trucks the garbage here that residents leave on their curb. And while it’s burned, steam is generated.

Much of it is piped eight-tenths of a mile just over the town line to Dalton, to Crane Paper.

Crane is the only maker of paper for US currency. During a recent tour, a turbine generating some of the electricity the factory needs screeches away. Most of the steam, though, is used in the paper-making process.

Rich Rowe, the head of Crane’s currency paper operation says if the Pittsfield trash incinerator does go off-line, the company will have to shell out several million dollars to buy a new boiler in order to generate steam. And going forward?

“Our energy costs would increase as a result of the change from waste-to-energy to actually just buying hydrocarbons,” Rowe says. “Even with low gas prices today, it would still be an increase in cost.”

And the city of Pittsfield would also get a financial headache. Mayor Linda Tyer says if the incinerator closes, the city might have to truck its garbage out of town.

“Because it’s going to involve likely a distance of travel, I anticipate the costs are going to increase for disposal, which in these challenging fiscal times is putting some pressure on our solid waste disposal costs,” Tyer says.

Mayor Tyer and Rich Rowe would both rather keep the incinerator open. Rowe says the Crane Company isn’t interested in operating the facility on its own, but:

“We are very hopeful that someone will come in, and we’ve seen a lot of interest in a third-party player,” Rowe says. “It really comes down to economics and can it make sense for someone to invest in this plant.”

And the economic picture for a new owner might be a little brighter. This week, the state legislature passed an energy bill, which includes tax credits for Massachusetts’ seven waste-to energy facilities, including another one in Agawam. Rowe hopes the incentive might entice a potential buyer in Pittsfield, Governor Charlie Baker signs the bill.

While the city and Crane are hoping the incinerator remains open, others think it’s time for it to go. John Spiers is with the Sierra Club of Massachusetts, an environmental group. He says despite the incinerator meeting state pollution guidelines each of the last two years, those rules aren’t strict enough.

“Particularly when we’re thinking about how hazardous air pollutants, which are a group of about a hundred, 150 types of pollutants that have super-fine particles, that aren’t very well regulated by current state guidelines,” Spiers says.

Spiers says as Pittsfield ponders trash alternatives, he urges them to think creatively.

“While this does pose a temporary hardship, longer-term this gives officials in Pittsfield an opportunity to think about recycling and adaptive reuse of materials as a way to solve their waste disposal needs,” Spiers says.

If the fire does indeed go out at the incinerator next year, just like death and taxes, there will still be trash to deal with in Pittsfield.