A coalition’s effort to improve recycling in CT
In 1991, the state passed its mandatory recycling law.
In the three decades that have passed, much has changed. But not the laws, or people’s habits. They pull their garbage and recyclables to the curb for pickup and think they’ve done their part.
“Something like 85 percent of people in the state want to recycle properly and they think they are doing it properly,” said Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker.
But they’re not. “There’s a lot of education that needs to be done,” said Brookfield First Selectman Stephen Dunn.
Now, after stewing in 30-year old juices, it’s become increasingly apparent that things aren’t working.
“We’re in a crisis,” said Katie Dykes, state commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Toward that end, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and a coalition of 74 towns throughout the state are looking at a serious overhaul of the state’s recycling practices.
The changes could include making the companies that make waste take responsibility for disposing of it; a greatly-expanded bottle bill; and charging people for the amount of trash they produce.
The group — the Connecticut Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management — has issued a summary of its findings. It’s posted at the group’s DEEP website.
Knickerbocker is cochairman of the coalition, which includes representatives from eight Danburyarea
towns.
He said the problem in the state are reflected across the country.
“The United States is so far behind the rest of the world on this,” he said.
But the concern over the state’s recycling work got focused in 2020 because of the fate of the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority’s aging trash-toenergy incinerator in Hartford.
The plant, which handles about a third of the state’s waste is often offline. The authority asked the state for $330 million to repair and revamp the plant, which would have, at considerable cost, maintained the garbage status quo for the Hartford region.
The state refused to foot the bill. Now, the plan is to shut the incinerator for good on July, 2022. The authority plans to begin trucking its waste — 600,000 to 720,000 tons a year — to out-of-state landfills.
The DEEP’s Dykes said that decision made it clear Connecticut needs to revamp its recycling ways, rather than bury its trash somewhere else in the country.
“MIRA shutting down will have a ripple effect across the state,” she said.
This isn’t a state or even a municipal problem. It’s a human problem.
“The one common denominator that connects us is that everyone makes garbage,” said Jennifer Heaton-Jones, executive director of the Housatonic Regional Recovery Authority, which manages trash disposal and recycling for 12 towns in the Danbury region.
Dykes said the awareness of what needs to be done is reflected in how many town leaders joined the coalition.
“I thought we’d get 12. Maybe 20,” she said. “We got 74.”
The coalition’s recommendations include a greatly expanded effort to separate
food wastes out of trash — wastes that can be composted, rather than adding to the trash tonnage towns get charged for.
It also recommends expanding Extended Producer Responsibility programs — making companies that produce waste take responsibility for getting rid of it.
The HRRA’s HeatonJones said paint manufacturers and mattress makers are already doing this in the state. She’s been working on a proposal to do the same with propane gas cylinders which can be dangerous once thrown into the waste stream.
Other commodities, like tires, are good targets for Extended Producer Responsibility. In the future, companies that sell products sealed in plastic, bubble wrap and cardboard could also be charged with recycling all that packaging,
rather than leaving it to migrate to consumers’ recycling bins and garbage cans.
The coalition said the state — and towns — should also consider united-based pricing for trash. This would mean treating trash like electricity — the more you use, the more you
pay.
Dykes said Stonington recently started unit-based pricing for its garbage. Very quickly, the town saw its trash tipping fees drop. Faced with actually paying for what they threw away, people began to reduce their trash output.
“The town saw an immediate, overnight reduction of 40 to 45 percent,” she
said.
Dykes said the money towns save in trash disposal costs can be then used to pay for a host of things.
“It means they’d have more money to spend on schools,” she said. “Because they’re not spending it on trash disposal.”