Stonington Begins Curbside Food Collection Pilot Program

Press release from the Town of Stonington:

January 10, 2023 - 2:45pm

Dear Residents,

We cannot begin to express how excited we are for this curbside composting program to start on January 23, 2023!

Thanks to a Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) grant from the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), and years of work from our amazing Solid Waste team, we will start a 12-month, town-wide, curbside, food scrap collection pilot program beginning on January 23, 2023. To participate, residents are asked to separate food scraps from household trash in different colored bags. Food scraps will go in the new Stonington green bag, and household trash will go in the Stonington yellow bag.

Connecticut is facing a waste crisis: waste disposal capacity is decreasing, hauling fees are increasing, and municipalities need a sustainable solution to manage and reduce waste. In response, the Town of Stonington applied for a competitive grant offered by the CT DEEP to reduce waste, save money, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The SMM grant was awarded to Stonington and 14 other municipalities that successfully demonstrated projects with a high potential for waste reduction.

In Connecticut, food scraps make up about 20% of residential trash - and all this food waste that towns currently throw away can easily be converted to energy and compost. Therefore, Stonington’s food scrap collection program will remove food waste from the trash, save the town money, and transform those organic materials into clean and renewable energy.

Stonington will pilot the curbside collection of food scrap program for all residents in town. The bags will be collected at the curb and transported to Quantum Biopower in Southington to create renewable energy. Stonington’s Transfer Station will also have a food scrap drop-off area for residents that opt to drop off their green bags.

Stonington’s pilot program will allow the Town and residents to try the program before deciding to make it permanent. During the pilot year, the program will be free to all residents, meaning residents won’t have to pay for the special-colored bags and hauling fees for waste collection.

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS

The bag distribution events are as follows:

The Town of Stonington is proud to be a leader in the State of Connecticut by implementing new and effective waste diversion and reduction programs and we look forward to embarking on this new initiative of food scrap collection in our Town.

If you would like more information or have any questions, please feel free to call the Stonington Solid Waste Department at (860) 535-5099. Offices are located in the Town Hall and are open Monday – Friday 8:00am – 4:00pm.

This press release was produced by the Town of Stonington. The views expressed here are the author’s own.