RACE Toward Recycling

There are eight garbage cans downtown for pedestrians to ditch their trash, but there are no recycling bins for any bottles or cans that may be in the mix. 

But if Ridgefield High School sophomore Alex Hance has his way, this dearth of Main Street recycling will change. Hance, who is working toward becoming an Eagle Scout, proposed a service project that would result in a eight recycle bins—one beside each trash can.

"I like to recycle. I like to help other people learn about recycling, and I try to take an active stance," Hance said during a presentation to the Ridgefield Action Committee for the Environment on Nov. 10.

RACE has committed to paying for one of the eight recycle bins, which in Hance's current proposal look identical to the trash cans but have a smaller, beverage-sized opening. The total cost for the bins with lid attachments will be about $4,000, Hance said, and he is responsible for raising the funds.

First Selectman Rudy Marconi supports the idea of recycling downtown and said the man the town employs to empty the trash bins is willing to augment his duties. But the recycle bins would require a place to empty them—Main Street's trash bins are emptied into dumpsters behind Town Hall, and recyclables would need a storage site too. And, Marconi added, it might not make sense for the recycle and the trash bins to look virtually identical.

"We need to talk to the Design Council about it, because we do have to differentiate," Marconi said. Hance had proposed using identical cans to help ensure the Design Council, an advisory group to the Board of Selectmen that polices public aesthetics, would approve the idea.

Hance's goal is to see his project through by April 22, which is Earth Day, he said.

For the project to qualify toward Hance's Eagle Scout application, it must take at least 100 hours to complete and be approved by the town, the Troop Scoutmaster and the regional Scout Council, said Troop 76 Scoutmaster Bob Keyes, who has not yet approved Hance's proposal.

"i think the idea's a great one—he's satisfying a need in the community," Keyes said. "My only reservation was to make sure it would take 100 hours of his time and volunteer time to implement."

In the meantime, Hance is plowing ahead with his plans. He is in talks with the Rotary Club and the Women's Club to possibly sponsor two more of the eight proposed bins, he told RACE.

There are also a couple high school students involved in a similar process to try and get bike racks installed around town, Marconi said.