Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection estimates that 41% of what residents throw away in trash is organic material, including food scraps and yard waste. This waste often then gets shipped out of state and is landfilled instead of being repurposed for composting, biogas, and animal feed. Food scraps alone represent 22% of residential trash and are one of the heavier materials regularly thrown away, according to DEEP.
Removing them from the waste stream reduces the costs of disposal as municipalities pay by weight in the state. Food scraps alone represent 22% of residential trash and are one of the heavier materials regularly thrown away, according to DEEP. Removing them from the waste stream reduces the costs of disposal as municipalities pay by weight in the state. To address the problem, DEEP announced $5 million in grants to 18 municipalities as part of the Sustainable Materials Management Grant program. The SMM grant program supports the development of food scrap collection and unit-based pricing (or pay to throw) pilot programs to help reduce the amount of organic material being sent to landfills.
Towns awarded grants include Ansonia, Bethany, Deep River, Guilford, Madison, Meriden, Middletown, Newtown, Seymour, Stonington, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, West Haven, Woodbridge, and Woodbury.