Riverside Disposal and Recycling

We are a family owned and operated waste removal and recycling company that prides itself on being local, being green, and providing the very best service to our customers. These are more than just words. The success of this company is our passion, working long days and sometimes even weekends, to provide what we consider gold star service.Why is being local important? Local businesses support the local economy. Execs from conglomerates don't spend their money in downtown Gardiner, downtown Hallowell, or downtown Augusta. But I do. You do.

Why is being green important? The future of this planet depends on it. We must find sustainable and realistic solutions for our waste. Our children's children depend on it. Riverside prides itself as serving as an integral part of this solution and to never settle for the status quo.Finally, why is our service important? This is the essence of our business. Our primary goal is to serve the residential and commercial customer to the very best of our ability.

History

Riverside Disposal started in 1985 as a simple one-truck residential operation with a determined owner, Melinda Cameron Turner. Melinda knew the business well as she worked for the largest commercial hauler in the area, Mid-Maine Services, since its incorporation in 1976. She also worked closely with another residential trash company, Camco Services. Camco in fact was one of the first residential recyclers in Central Maine.

Riverside Disposal operated for many years as a one-truck operation while Melinda simultaneously directed the commercial end of the industry with Mid-Maine Services, gaining knowledge and building relationships. At some point, Casella Waste bought out that company formally known as Mid-Maine Services. Differences of opinions and work ethic led to Melinda’s leaving the company and expanding the services of Riverside Disposal.

Given her strong relationships with her customers, Melinda was able to quickly grow Riverside Disposal. Riverside Disposal became synonymous with good service and reliability. Offering the services of the larger companies including roll-offs and multiple dumpster sizes, Riverside kept its gold star performance but with a local feel. Then the industry began to change its focus towards recycling. Melinda saw this as an opportunity to offer yet another service to its customers while doing good for the environment.Rental of dumpsters along with Roll off rental are also a major part of recycling

Today Riverside has grown to be one of the largest companies in Central Maine because of its commitment to its customers and its surroundings. It will continue to provide gold star service while maintaining its local appeal. Most importantly, Riverside will do what is best for its customers and the great state of Maine.

Recycling

A big part of going green is recycling. Do you know why recycling is important? Recycling is important for all kinds of reasons. It helps keep our trash from being buried, which fills up limited landfill space. It helps businesses lower the cost of production, saving you and I money. Recycling also produces jobs all over the U.S.

What does it mean to recycle? Recycling means that instead of throwing away our containers and paper products, we send them back into the world to become new products once again. Businesses that produce goods require resources in the production process. These resources can come from one of two places: 1) mining raw materials or 2) recycling previously used resources.

One way is to come from mining the resources from the Earth. There are two problems with getting resources this way. One problem is that is it’s expensive. Heavy equipment, abundant labor, and energy are used in the mining of raw materials and this can add to the cost of production for a business. The other problem is that our planet has limited resources. Mining these resources is okay, but resources need time to replenish. To avoid over-mining, or over harvesting, we can recycle.

Recycling is the other way that businesses get resources. Businesses can use products that have already been produced to extract what they need. This is less costly and more environmentally friendly.

Recycling Options

Riverside offers recycling options for your business or home. Remember that while recycling saves on landfill space and harvesting virgin materials, it can also save you money. We recycle everything from your household newspapers, to your business’s cardboard and computer paper, to your old mountain bikes.If your business finds itself throwing out an abundance of paper or cardboard, recycling is a viable alternative. For paper recycling, Riverside has a tote program. We'll deliver as many totes as your business requires, and pick up those totes on a weekly basis. If you are our rubbish customer already, chances are the paper recycling program will be done at no charge.
For cardboard recycling, we can do a small hand pickup on our recycling run. However, in most cases our customers find that a cardboard dumpster works well for storage reasons. The fee for a cardboard dumpster is minimal compared to waste.Remember that recycling is easy and good for environment, so call today.

Curbside Pickup Schedule

Riverside provides curbside pickup to most of the cities and towns in central Maine. The following list provides the day(s) of each town or city in alphabetcial order. 

Services

Riverside Disposal offers a full spectrum of services, anything from composting to roll-off boxes from curbside service to commercial recycling. And now, for your convenience, you have the ability to sign up for these services right on our website.For dumpster rental or roll off rental simply click on the service you desire on the left hand menu. For example, if you need curbside trash pick up, click on the 'order curbside pickup' button. One of our staff will take down the information, set up your service, and provide a pre-service call to answer any and all questions before getting started.

Going Green

What does it mean to 'go green?' Everyone's saying it. Businesses plaster it all over their products. Municipalities are preaching it. So what does it all mean? It used to be a term used only by proactive environmentalists. Those days are gone. With certain realities such as possible climate change, high energy costs, and limited landfill space, 'going green' affects us all.In the home of course, there are many things that one can do to become green. Recycling and composting are just one of many and we can help with these. Riverside is here to help you do your part. We make recycling easy and cost effective. At the curb, we offer more options than any other waste hauler in terms of recycling and composting. We make special pick-ups for bulky items that can be recycled. We handle universal waste and special waste in the proper manner.

Basically, Riverside is here to help you do your part while we do our part to make the planet safer for our generation and those to come.

Non Recyclable Items: 

• Not recyclable with regular curbside service:
• Call for sprecial arrangements
• Batteries, alkaline
• Bubble-wrap
• Clothing & shoes
• Diapers
• Envelopes, plastic or Tyvek®
• Food (but you can compost it)
• Kitty litter
• Knives
• Light bulbs, incandescent (trash),
• compact fluorescent
• light bulbs (return to
• store)
• Needles & sharps
• Paper napkins
• Paper towels
• Plastic bags:
• bread bags
• frozen vegetable,
• snack/sandwich,
• trash bags
• Plastic wrap or film
• Potato chip bags
• Ribbon & bows
• Styrofoam® or
• polystyrene foam
• (even if marked #6)
• Trash/waste
• Vinyl (siding, bumper
• stickers, etc.)