Section 44B. Regional refuse disposal planning committees from any two or more cities or towns may join together to form a regional refuse disposal planning board. Such regional refuse disposal planning board shall study the advisability of establishing a regional refuse disposal district, its organization, operation and control, and of selecting, constructing, maintaining and operating a refuse disposal facility to serve the needs of the district, and shall estimate construction and operating costs and study methods of financing such district. Each city or town comprising such board may appropriate a sum not in excess of ten thousand dollars for the purpose of meeting the expenses of the board. Such board may expend any such sums so appropriated and may employ such expert assistance as it deems necessary. Such board may apply for, accept and expend, without appropriation, grants or gifts of funds from the federal government. As used in this section and in sections forty-four C to forty-four K, inclusive, the term ”refuse disposal facility” shall mean an incinerator, sanitary land fill, transfer station, composting plant, other sanitary means of refuse disposal approved by the department of environmental protection, or any combination of two or more of such facilities.