State inspectors also noted the station is otherwise in “good operational order.”
May 27, 2026
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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—After a summer of complaints about odors, rats, and seagulls at the EMR transfer station, state environmental officials are requiring a series of operational changes and repairs at the facility over the next several weeks.
A recent inspection by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection found the transfer station generally “in good operational order,” but identified waste handling and building maintenance issues that officials say are contributing to nuisance odors and vectors.
The DEP report states, “Generally, the EMR transfer station is in good operational order. However, Department staff received consistent complaints throughout the 2025 summer season related to nuisance odors and vectors from the transfer station. Previous inspections conducted by Department staff have confirmed the presence of a significant number of rats and seagulls, and led to Department staff identifying MSW management practices in the red MSW building as the primary source of vector and potential nuisance odor issues. As a result, the EMR transfer station will be required to make several operational changes and facility improvements to mitigate nuisance odors and vectors by June 1, 2026.”
A vector, according to the EPA, might be something like a seagull or a rat or even bugs.
“According to the EPA, a vector ‘is an organism that can spread disease by carrying and transferring pathogens, such as an insect or rodent. Containerization of putrescible waste at the end of each working day unless otherwise approved by the department.’ So, in a transfer station, this would mean having a clean tip floor, and all that waste into, say, a walking floor trailer, ready to be transported by truck the next morning to a landfill,” writes Waste Advantage Magazine.
The town’s Select Board held a discussion about the site during its May 26 meeting at the request of the town’s Sustainability Committee.
“The Sustainability Committee at its last meeting with a copy in hand of the DEP inspection report of the transfer station voted unanimously to ask the select board to please get involved with DEP and making sure that any irregularities that may have been found and were asked to be corrected by DEP would in fact happen,” one of the Sustainability Committee members told the Select Board.
The role of the town’s code enforcement officer (CEO) and town was in question.
Town Manager Karen Reddersen said that she reached out to the Maine Municipal Association about the town’s role and responsibilities related to the transfer station.
According to the MMA attorney Susan Pilgrim, “The town’s CEO would not enforce a DEP order concerning management of a transfer station. The DEP would enforce its own licensing requirements and any notices of violation that it has issued.”
“If the EMR provides services through a contract with ADD, would be up to the board that runs the ADD to manage and oversee its contract,” the MMA lawyer told Reddersen. “If the town directly contracts with EMR for this recycling waste facility, then the town may have some rights under its contract with EMR to enforce contractual requirements, depending on what the contractual agreement provides.”
Whether or not the transfer station complies with the land use ordinance would be a CEO issue.
Currently, the town is without a code enforcement officer and is using Tremont’s until it can hire a new one.
Generally, a land use ordinance would address permitting standards for new developments, although there may have been some standards, such as noise standards, that might apply to existing permitted activities.
Also, if the facility required a permit or approval from the CEO or Planning Board in order to operate, the CEO could review that previous approval and determine if the facility is in compliance with any stated conditions of the approval.
According to Pilgrim, there can also be other legal authorities to help with any issues.
“For example, if rats are an issue, the town’s health officer might look into the situation to determine if there is a public health concern that could be addressed through the health officer’s authorities,” Pilgrim said. “The health officer would work together with DHHS to administer health laws. Generally, if the health issue were identified, the health officer might issue if there is a violation to the entity, and then if voluntary cooperation were not forthcoming, the town would need to work with an attorney to pursue the matter in court.”
The report also explains that “although the storage and use of inert material is exempted from solid waste licensing requirements, the MEDEP is concerned that the inert pile is currently encroaching on a wetland area behind the transfer station. Department staff advise pulling the inert material back on to the flat area and designating a dropoff area with traffic cones or other visual indicators to prevent future filling of the back portion of the transfer station.”
An operating manual also needs to be updated.
Speaking via Zoom, Ken Rozsahegyi said the reason the committee wanted to highlight the DEP inspection was partially because it’s not something that comes up in town business.
“Southwest Harbor does not have a public works director like Mount Desert. Southwest Harbor does not run and operate its own facilities like Bar Harbor, but it is in town and it is serving the town,” Rozsahegyi said. “So it’s part of public services. So by the sustainability committee focusing on the inspection report, the question arises, how does the town engage with this.”
He said the committee was looking for guidance, potentially through the solid waste ordinance, about how to go forward.
“But beyond that, I believe what the town can do right now is engage with DEP, as I heard before, and I totally agree, DEP is the Licensing and the Inspection Authority and has regulations that they follow up on,” he said. “DEP might need help, and Southwest Harbor has the standing to say what’s going on, keep us informed, and that’s the least that can be done.”
According to a May 18 email from Kalie Hess, “The committee voted to bring forward discussion of the report and to request discussion about how the town intends to ensure compliance with the DEP’s required corrective actions and timelines. The DEP report identifies multiple required operational changes and facility repairs related to nuisance odors, vectors, and infrastructure deficiencies at the transfer station with deadlines beginning in May and continuing through June 2026.”
According to the DEP report doors to a main building that holds waste are not routinely closed when the transfer station is closed. Also, it says, “there are large holes in the side walls” of that same barn, which allows for smells to emanate out.
During the meeting, Lee Worcester, who owns the station said the station has an annual inspection.
“This particular inspection was on May 4,” Worcester said. “The report was issued on May 14. And we are responding to that and have responded to that to the department. We’ll comply with the requests that they have made, and we’ll do that in as timely of a fashion as we can, whether we can get all of it done by the dates that they, because some of it is going to require contractors, and I don’t know if any of you are trying to find a contractor, but it’s not the easiest thing to do, or the most timely thing to do, but we are doing it.”
He said the lower and main doors will remain closed when the station isn’t open.
“The third door, which really isn’t there, the wind decided to take it away, will be closed and boarded up,” he said. “We will amend our operations manual to include the things that our inspector wanted. And one of which, which we do and have done regularly, we bear the tipping floor at least once a week, sometimes several times a week.”
They’ve also agreed to use a product that they apply to the trash and now apply it to the wall and the floor.
“Personally, I don’t think it’s going to do anything, but we’ll do it. And we’ll continue with our monitoring of, as the trash comes in, to apply a reodorant to it to help control odors,” Worcester said. “And there’s a couple of holes in the metal skin of the red building that will be there. And I expect, hopefully, all of that will be done in the month of June.”
The DEP report said that a citrus reodorant meant to manage odors during the summer “has not been sufficient to control nuisance odors from the red MSW (municipal solid waste) barn.”
The town, the board said, can be in touch with the DEP to ensure compliance with the DEP’s recommended and required actions with regards to the transfer station report site visit, but it can’t enforce the state’s rules via a code enforcement officer, which was a question Hess asked in her email.
“Whatever you want me to do, I’d be happy to do,” Reddersen said.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Select Board Agenda and Packet
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