Caught between fast-rising disposal costs, restrictive disposal policies at local treatment plants and the closure of municipal land application sites, Caston Lovely — the owner of Ken Allen’s Septic in Presque Isle, Maine — was increasingly alarmed by the shrinking profit margins at the company his grandfather established in 1957.
The solution: purchase 50 acres of farmland on the outskirts of Presque Isle that now handles an average of about 500,000 gallons of land-applied waste annually. “We basically ensured the future of our company,” says Lovely, 34, noting that he land-applies about 95% of the septage he collects. “Financially, it really
