According to the article, "Crisis building at Kennebec County wastewater treatment plants" by Jessica Lowell of the Kennebec Journal as featured on Centralmaine.com, wastewater treatment plants across Maine are struggling with the disposal of sludge after recent state regulations have changed how biosolids can be handled.
These bills were primarily put into place because of the amounts of PFAS "forever" chemicals found to be contaminating soil and water. As a result, sludge can no longer be used in land applications and must be disposed of in another way to help prevent PFAS contamination.
These new regulations are taking a toll on wastewater treatment plants who are struggling to eliminate biosolids and are finding the need to have it hauled away to landfills at a high cost.
Incineration can be used in the elimination of PFAS in biosolids. Both Multiple Hearth Furnaces and Fluidized Bed Incinerators can get up to temperatures high enough to remove PFAS from waste.