Pay-per trash proposal a mixed bag
Some municipalities embrace system, others don’t
“I am still a big advocate of it but it’s like many programs: you have to have the community on board.” ROSE ANN HARDY, EAST LYME SELECTWOMAN
As New London and Montville consider pay-per-bag trash proposals, two local towns that started similar programs in the 1990s have had different experiences.
The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection says on its website that pay-as-you-throw programs, which charge residents per bag of trash, are a way to reach a higher reduction and recycling rate statewide. East Lyme ran such a program for several years before discontinuing it in 1998. Stonington, on the other hand, which started its program about the same time as East Lyme, continues to have it in place.
While East Lyme doesn’t offer incentives or charge residents fees for garbage disposal after ending its pay-per-bag program, First Selectman Mark Nickerson said the town’s single-stream recycling program — along with the barrels and free pick-up that the town provides to residents — makes it easy for people to recycle. The town posts on its website and social media about what can and can’t be recycled.
“We encourage recycling,” Nickerson said. “We’ve gotten a good response from our citizens.”
East Lyme issues every household two different colored barrels: one for recycling that gets picked up every other week, and one for trash that gets picked up every week. The service is paid for through property taxes. The town had a 40 percent recycling rate in 2016-17, according to Director of Public Works Joseph J. Bragaw.
Nickerson said recycling has become a habit for people, like wearing a seat belt.
“It’s just become an American lifestyle,” he added. “It’s just what people do.”
East Lyme residents who need additional trash barrels beyond the town-provided container are able to purchase from the town a 96-gallon can for $75 or a 56-gallon can
She said she had been looking for a second location for the past three years and was familiar with the area, having spent summers in Mystic as a child. But she said that she was not familiar with the velvet mill and its successful reuse after the company moved to Virginia more than 20 years ago.
“We’re located on Main Street in Putnam in a thriving arts community so we wanted to be part of that somewhere else,” she said. “We kind of stumbled upon (the velvet mill). The place is so cool. We visited to check it out and decided it would be a good fit.”
Johnson said the 1,000-square foot space will allow the center to start small and move slowly with the option of moving into a larger section of the mill in the future.
She said a sampling of classes, most for children and teens, will be offered this summer, with a full slate of classes slated to begin in September. It will offer classes in dance/ movement, theatre and creative arts.
Johnson said the arts center originally opened in an old mill in Putnam and now is located in a historic former bank building in the northeastern Connecticut community.
“We enjoy being part of a resurgence of old buildings,” she said.
Johnson said the center also will bring performers to the mill, as well as perform out in the community. She said about five to six of the center’s faculty member will work at the mill in the beginning.
She said that she began dancing at age 3 in the traditional world of recitals, pageants and competitions. She said it was not until she got to college at the Hartford Conservatory and Eastern Connecticut State University that her eyes were opened and she realized dance was an art form and not a competition.
After graduating with a de- gree in fine arts — she also has a master’s degree in interdisci- plinary art from Goddard College — she said she “felt the community needed something different than the pageantry of the dance competition world” and a chance to expose students to dance in the college and professional world.
That’s when the Killingly native opened her center in nearby Putnam.
More information about the center is available at www. thecpac.org.