Friday, Nov. 15, is Connecticut Recycles Day!

It’s part and parcel of today’s world — somewhere in your house, you have a tangled drawer of obsolete or leftover electronics and cords. You may even have unused paint you bought during the Reagan Administration that’s been hanging around on a shelf in the garage.

On Friday, Nov. 15, it’s the perfect time to part with those storage-space-clogging items at one of more than 150 approved locations across the state: It’s Connecticut Recycles Day!

In fact, safe recycling of those commonly mis-disposed-of household items is at the top of the wish list for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) on Connecticut Recycles Day, part of the national America Recycles Day.

“Connecticut Recycles Day is the perfect time for everyone to recommit themselves to the practice of recycling and to recognize that we can now recycle and reuse much more than bottles, cans, plastics, cardboard, and newspaper,” said DEEP Commissioner Daniel C. Esty.  “In Connecticut, for instance, we’ve made it easy to clear your basement, garage, and closets of old computers, printers, televisions and monitors — as well as cans of leftover paint you will never use — by taking them to locations where they can be properly recycled.”

Electronic Waste Recycling

Under the Electronics Recycling Law Connecticut residents can bring old computer equipment and televisions to the aforementioned 150 locations , which are often located at municipal waste transfer stations.  At these locations, the equipment is stored safely until it can be transported to facilities where valuable materials such as plastics, aluminum, gold, copper, palladium, and other rare metals are removed and processed for reuse or recycling and the remaining components are disposed of properly.  Connecticut's statewide electronics recycling program has collected more than 30 million pounds of equipment since 2011, according to reports provided by the state’s approved electronic recyclers.

Check out this short video that shows you your options.

“Recycling of unwanted computer equipment and television sets is a major gain for our environment and our economy,” Commissioner Esty said. “It takes tons of material out of our waste stream, reducing the cost of waste disposal more than $500,000 each year.  The program ensures that toxic materials in e-wastes are managed properly — which eliminates risks to the environment — while making new use of materials that have real value in the marketplace and helping us reach our recycling goals.”

Used Paint Recycling

On July 1, DEEP and PaintCare, a product stewardship organization of the paint industry, launched a program authorized by Public Act 11-24, An Act Establishing a Paint Stewardship Program, to allow for the responsible recycling of unused and leftover paint.  Under this program there are already more than 100 convenient locations across the state — most of them retail paint stores and municipal waste transfer stations — where residents can drop off unwanted paint.  The paint is then shipped to recycling facilities where it is used to make new paint products.

Leftover and unusable paint wastes natural resources, causes pollution when disposed of improperly and costs municipalities and their taxpayers thousands of dollars a year in fees for trash disposal.

And there’s a ton (probably literally) of unused paint kicking around in this state alone.

“We estimate that a staggering five million containers with more than one million gallons of paint are stored in homes across Connecticut.  This recycling program means that this leftover paint will be turned into useful new products instead of eventually going into the trash.  This helps lower the cost and reduce the environmental impact of disposal.”

Additional Information

For more information on the state’s overall recycling program, go to http://www.ct.gov/recycle.  For more information on Connecticut Recycles Day and America Recycles Day, visit Connecticut Recycles Day andAmerica Recycles Day.

— Information from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection