Date: January 26, 2022
Contact: For Immediate Release
Ellen Zoppo-Sassu
Acting Town Manager
Enfield, CT 06082
Phone: (860) 253-6350
townmanager@enfield.org
Town of Enfield Adopts New Solid Waste Policy for Tipper Barrels
The Town Council recently voted to revise the Solid Waste Policy which has reduced the number of trash barrels that the Town will collect, encourages recycling and also changes the yard waste collection. This policy will go into effect on March 1st.
“How to handle trash is a big issue in the state, and across the nation,” said Mayor Bob Cressotti. “Current market conditions are very volatile in terms of costs associated with Solid Waste and Recycling materials. The Town of Enfield’s current contract is that we pay $81.50 per ton to dispose of trash. For recycling items, the contract is $11.04 per ton to dispose of these materials. This has become a crisis due to China’s Sword policy which has limited that country’s purchase of the United States’ after-market recycling product, and compounded by the problems with trash disposal sites like what we are seeing with MIRA in Hartford.”
For Solid Waste (Trash), households will have a grey barrel picked up each week as its primary barrel. Public Works staff are working to affix red tags to primary barrels along trash routes during the month of February. If households would like to put out a second barrel, they will need to purchase a tag at the Public Works offices at 140 Moody Rd from 8:00am-3:30pm Monday-Friday. The cost of the second barrel tag is $85.
For Recycling, residents are eligible for up to 3 blue barrels at no charge. This area has created a significant swing within the budget. Previously, the Town received a stream of revenue amounting to $22.75 per ton to dispose of recycled items. Now, the Town has to pay to dispose this collection at $11.04, which is also subject to a 2.5% increase each year, and most likely will continue to increase. This is still significantly less than the $81.50 per ton that it costs to process solid waste.
For the Yard Waste subscription program for weekly collection from April through October, the ordinance is going to eliminate the unlimited nature of yard waste barrel pick up and limit it to 4.
The Town will dispose of 2 free brown barrels weekly at no cost for each household that chooses to participate. The households will also be eligible to purchase 2 additional tags for brown barrels at a cost of $45 per barrel.
The State Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has adopted a Comprehensive Materials Management Strategy (CMMS) which is a roadmap to achieving the state’s goal of 60 percent diversion of materials from disposal by 2024. “In order to reach these goals, we need to improve the performance of municipal recycling programs and reduce waste, including increasing participation and compliance with mandatory recycling provisions,” said Councilor Marie Pyznar, who sat in on the recent Public Works sub-committee meeting.
The Town will be working with local groups and organizations as well as the schools to encourage recycling and re-use options in order to reduce the amount of trash collected. “Currently, the Town offers free drop off for electronics, cardboard and textiles at the Transfer Station,” said Councilor Matt Despard.
Residents may also bring yard waste for free to the Transfer Station, up to 5 visits.
On April 30th, the Public Works Department will offer a Household Hazardous Waste collection at its facility on Moody Road.
“There are also opportunities being pursued for composting, community clean-ups, and swaps for larger items that may be of interest to others,” said Deputy Mayor Gina Cekala. “The more we can keep out of the $81.50 per ton waste stream, the better off we will be budget wise