Roxbury earns Sustainable CT community certification

The Town of Roxbury is one of the first Connecticut municipalities to achieve certification as a Sustainable CT community.

The town met high standards in a broad range of sustainability accomplishments to qualify for the prestigious Bronze certification.

Sustainable CT, a statewide initiative that supports and recognizes sustainability action by Connecticut communities, was launched last year and announced its first group of certified towns.

In its application for Sustainable CT certification, Roxbury demonstrated significant achievements in actions in nine sustainable impact areas ranging from thriving local economies and vibrant arts and culture to clean transportation.

While the town successfully completed actions in each of the categories, it also found that it had already done some of them, such as categorizing natural resources and energy efficiency projects.

Points were garnered for collaboration with the Roxbury Land Trust, support of the Arts and all the efforts of the Conservation Commission, which most recently completed Joey’s Trail, a dedication to Joey Awlasewicz who died in 2014 and was a lover of the outdoors.

The town has an electric vehicle charging station, participates in the Household Hazardous Waste Day, has partnerships with Litchfield Solutions to promote local businesses, the American Red Cross and Bay State Textiles to promote recycling, among others.

“Improving on our recycling efforts and raising awareness on how we can all use less plastic bags, straws, pesticides, etc. is one of the next steps we’d like to build on,” said First Selectman Barbara Henry.

“We are committed to continue using public outreach and education in pursuit of Roxbury’s sustainability goals,” she said.

The Board of Selectmen praised the focus and dedication of the Sustainable CT committee, under the direction of Jessyka Patterson, Environmental Coordinator, and Teresa Roxburgh, Library Director, for pushing through the multiple tasks in order to satisfy the application process.

“We will continue and improve on our efforts, hoping to achieve Silver certification in 2019 and to take advantage of the grant opportunities available to Sustainable CT certified communities,” Henry said.

The Town of Roxbury and other certified communities will be recognized Oct. 30 at the annual Convention of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, followed by additional local and regional recognition events in the coming months.

“We are committed to continue using public outreach and education in pursuit of Roxbury’s sustainability goals.”

Barbara Henry, Roxbury first selectman