A statewide push to convert food scraps into fuel and fertilizer — and keep it out of costly landfills — will require money and attitude adjustment, experts and government officials say. “Having a third bin is tough for some folks,” said Tom Kirk, president of the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, referring to the typically green household waste bin, blue recycling bin and the still uncommon third container for cutting board and plate scrapings.
“I would love for us to divert food scraps from (municipal solid waste),” East Hartford Mayor Marcia Leclerc said. “However, as a community we have major barriers to getting compliance and support with clean recycling.” The mounting problem of how to handle Connecticut’s 2.5 million tons of annual waste prompted the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to launch the Organics Infrastructure Initiative in late February.
Pressure is rising with the expected closing next year of MIRA’s trash-to-energy plant in Hartford (the largest of five such plants in the state) and the expense of shipping garbage to out-of-state landfills, where capacity is shrinking and may decline by 40% by 2026, DEEP says.