Christine Palm

Disposal of solid waste - including food scraps that are easily compostable - is a crisis in our state that’s costing our towns money and harming the environment. While anywhere between 20 and 40 percent of solid waste is easy to divert out of the waste stream, much of it is currently being trucked hundreds of miles out of state.

Still, some great things are happening on the local level regarding recycling and food scrap diversion, largely through the Sustainable CT program. Of Connecticut’s 169 towns, 131 municipalities are registered with Sustainable CT. I’m happy to report that Chester is the latest town to earn a “Silver Certification.” Essex is also a “Silver” certified town. (See more below.) Congrats to both Chester and Essex for this distinction! 

(New Haven is the first municipality to achieve "Gold Certification" in Connecticut as of September, and Old Saybrook is working toward "Gold Certification" as well.)

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rep. Palm, Cindy Lignar, Kim Price, and Sen. Norm Needleman at the Chester Fair.

Chester

• Silver Certification Award! Big congratulations to Cindy Lignar and everyone on the Chester Sustainability Team for qualifying for Sustainable CT’s “Silver Certification.” Thanks to their hard work and dedication, Chester environmental volunteers reached the necessary 500 points to upgrade from a “Bronze” to a “Silver” designation, making the town one of just 27 in the state to earn this distinction.
• Zero Waste at the Chester Fair - Each year, Connecticut fairgoers generate heaps of waste. Chester resident Kim Price is working hard to remedy that! Kim and his team managed to recover 65% MORE recyclables than at last year’s fair, filling a 20-yard container (see photo below) with single-use plastic, corrugated boxes, and aluminum cans. And, using their two water dispensers, they were able to replace 3,000 plastic water bottles with compostable cups (vs. last year’s 1,900 cups). These seemingly small individual actions add up to enormous environmental benefits. Especially when you consider that this year the Chester Fair diverted, in total, 59% of its trash from the traditional waste stream. To learn more or volunteer, email him at: kpricechester@gmail.com
• Waste recycle bins have come to Downtown Chester — Thanks to the cooperation of the town DPW, Sustainable Chester arranged for two recycling bins to be installed in the commercial center of town, in front of The Villager. These are being emptied twice per week.
• And Save the Date! Sustainable Chester will hold an Electronics Recycling event on October 28, 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., at the United Church of Chester's parking lot. 

Learn more here:  https://sustainablect.org/actions-certifications/certification-overview

Deep River

• Deep River received a $100K dollar grant from DEEP to implement a townwide food scrap diversion pilot program and is widely recognized as a leader in this movement. (I was at a meeting at the Capitol during the legislative session about solid waste disposal and DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes gave a big shout-out to Deep River as a “model for how towns can handle local compostable waste.”)  
• About those bags: Deep River Sustainable CT member Lenore Grunko reports: “We are about halfway through the year-long process designed to encourage people to change their habits by getting ALL food scraps out of the waste stream.  The grant provides money for colored bags (orange for household waste and green for food scraps) to help control waste in the home. There was also money for buckets for food scraps. The biggest expense is transporting the food scraps to Quantum Biopower in Southington, where the food scraps get converted to energy and compost. Hopefully, similar facilities will become available closer to home.” Interesting to note that the plastic film goes to a company called Trex to use building decking and other products. Since they rely on it to make their products, as an incentive to communities, they award a park bench made by them if towns manage to collect 500 pounds of plastic in a six-month stretch. Way to go, Deep River!
• Meanwhile, Deep River has also recently formed the Deep River Waste Reduction Committee to work on other waste issues.  If interested in joining the committee, please contact First Selectman Angus MacDonald.

Learn more here: https://reducethetrashct.com/deepriver/

Graphic courtesy of Deep River Sustainable CT. 

Essex

• Recycle bins available: Essex has free town drop-off bins at the transfer station for all food waste for its residents. The transfer station also sells at a discounted rate ($20), home bins for your countertop in which to collect scraps you can then bring to the transfer station. The group encourages people to avail themselves of this great opportunity to get rid of compostable waste. Learn more here: https://sustainableessex.com/food-scrap-collection/
• Backyard composting: Sustainable Essex member Katie Digianantonio urges folks to compost in their backyard if possible. RiverCOG has a sale coming up in October for the standing-type backyard compost bins.  Please be mindful that backyard composting MUST be bear-proof!

Click HERE for some great resources from Sustainable Essex.

Throwing out compostable food scraps is wasteful, unecological, and expensive!

Haddam

• Composting bins available: Haddam has free town drop-off bins at the transfer station for all food waste for its residents. The Haddam Sustainability Committee reports that “business is picking up” at the transfer station. Learn more at https://www.haddam.org/sustainability-committee/pages/compost-project
• Starter kits: For a $25 donation, residents can get a two-gallon countertop bin, a roll of 25 compostable bags, and larger six-gallon bin to place food scraps in for the transfer station. You can pick one up at the Town Office Building in the Tax Office, Assessor's Office or the Selectman's Office (Monday-Tuesday 8:30-4, Thursday 8:30-6 or Friday 8:30-12). You may also see members of the Sustainability Committee at the transfer station, who can suggest other options for those who don’t yet have a composting bin and bags.
• Compostable bags are available with a $5 donation if you need refills or already have your own compost bin. Special passes for residents with “private pick-up” are available at the Town Office Building. Joanne Nesti is Chair of the Haddam Sustainability Committee. Reach her at:
  Haddamsustainabilitycommittee@gmail.com

Website is: https://www.haddam.org/sustainability-committee

Graphic courtesy of Haddam Sustainability Committee. 

And About Those Nips:

“Nips” - those single-use liquor bottles you see lying along the roadsides - are both a health and an environmental hazard. You’ll recall that in the Bottle Bill update the Legislature passed last year, each town was given an amount of money based on how many single-use nip bottles were sold in that town. Because we do not yet have the technology for a “reverse vending machine” to accept nips, the liquor industry is reimbursing towns 5 cents for each nip sold, as a way to help manage the litter. Towns are free to use the nips money as they see fit, as long as it goes in some way toward recycling or environmentally sound practices.

Here’s a round-up about how the four towns in the 36th District are using that nips money:

• Chester: Chester applied some of it to the town’s Public Works line item, since they do the roadside clean up. 
• Deep River: Deep River has been using its Nips funds to support the food scraps and recycling programs at the Deep River Elementary School.
• Essex: Essex has been using its nips funds to support the food scraps and recycling programs at Essex Elementary School and supporting composting food scrap initiatives at Town restaurants. Sustainable Essex continues to “brainstorm” creative, effective ways to use the money.
• Haddam: The Town of Haddam has appropriated the nip funds toward a Glass Recycling Container project in the capital fund. This will enhance the recycling program at the Haddam Transfer Station with a custom-made glass recycling container.  This container will take out of the single stream recycling glass items, which cannot be effectively recycled as glass breaks and often becomes contaminated. The elimination of heavy glass in single stream helps with controlling costs.

Finally, some helpful links:

To learn what is and is not recyclable: https://www.recyclect.com/

To learn more about Sustainable CT: https://sustainablect.org/

To learn about upcoming events and helpful hints, click HERE.

I am so proud of our towns for their environmental practices, and I encourage everyone to be part of the solution to solid waste! The problem of solid waste management is bound to be a major concern in this upcoming legislative session.