Winter hours for the Casco-Naples Transfer Station & Bulky Waste Facility

Bulky Waste is open: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.,

Transfer Site is open: Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Both facilities are closing 1 hour earlier. 

By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO — Now that Daylight Saving Time (DST) has ended, the switchover of seasons has triggered a lot of changes.

One change is happening at the transfer site shared by two towns.

As of this week, the Casco-Naples Transfer Station & Bulky Waste Facility has started its new winter hours schedule.

“The change is closing an hour earlier.  No other times have changed. The reason for closing sooner is employee safety, because of becoming darker substantially earlier,” according to Casco Town Manager Tony Ward.

“Bulky waste — it will close at 3:30 p.m. and household trash and recycling will close at 3:45 p.m.,” he said. “Staff will still be working. They will be cleaning. They will be completing their work day.”

On Sunday morning, an employee at the bulky waste scale window was handing out flyers announcing the winter hours.

Not only does it get dark sooner, but also when it gets dark, it becomes difficult for people to see the ice on the ground that is common this time of year, according to John Kimball, bulky waste supervisor.

It was best to avoid the hazard by closing before dark, he said.

In February 2023, the Transfer Station Council voted to change the hours in November of this year. So, the transition to winter hours has been planned out for a while.

“The hours will readjust when DST arrives in March,” Ward said.

Council member Priscilla Kyle recalls hearing about the public safety issues when the sun sets an hour before the facility closes. 

“It was discussed — daylight saving time; it is dark over there,” Kyle said. “I agreed it is dark at 4:30 in the afternoon, almost as dark as it is 8 o’clock at night.”

Another change will be upgrades to the facilities that were approved two years ago at annual town meetings in both Casco and Naples. Already, the money has been bonded for the multi-year project.

“It includes but is not limited to: Upgrading recycling bin area, creating a second recycling area that mirrors the first, creating exit roadways on both sides of the hopper, paving the transfer station area, improving the traffic flow for the transfer station, paving of the roadway between the transfer station and bulky waste, upgrading the bulky waste area by replacing failing cement and installing new walls in the area of all bins,” Ward said.

Before all of those improvements can commence, there must be a place for residents to get rid of trash and recycling, he said.

“This [construction] obviously will have an impact on the operations. The creation of the temporary transfer station area will reduce the town’s capacity to accept recycling,” Ward said. “We anticipate that it will increase service times at the transfer station because of capacity limitations.”

“The bulky waste disruption discussion is not completed yet, and will be a discussion for a future transfer station council meeting,” Ward said.

The council’s next meeting is Dec. 7.

The council meets about once a month. Each town has three representatives; two are elected and one is appointed. In Casco, Tuan Nguyen was elected; Sue Witonis was appointed; and there is one vacant seat. In Naples, Caleb Humphrey and Priscilla Kyle were elected, and Selectman Steve LaPointe was appointed. 

To find out where the council’s next meeting will be located, check the calendars on websites for Town of Casco or Town of Naples.