The Town’s annual Hazardous Waste Collection Day drew a total of 460 cars to the Transfer Station on Saturday, Sept. 16, to drop off household wastes, and that was 94 more cars (25%) than the event drew one year ago, according to Transfer Station Superintendent Jim Rogers.
Of the additional 94 cars, 84 were New Canaan residents and 10 were from surrounding communities. Neighboring communities hold Hazardous Waste Collection Days on different days and allow residents of other towns to drop off at their stations. The towns keep track of the out-of-town visitors and bill the other towns accordingly, Rogers said.
Rogers said he did not recall so many cars coming with hazardous waste since the year they started the program roughly 10 years ago. He did not know why there was such an increase, but he did say that the electronic notification sign at the intersection of Main and Cherry streets was used for the first time this year. Other publicity and advertising efforts were the same this year, Rogers said.
At 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, 45-minutes before the closing of the gates to the Transfer Station, a line of cars waiting to get to the drop-off point went out to Main Street. Drivers said that it was taking between 35 and 45 minutes to get to the drop-off.
At the drop-off point, drivers did not have to get out of their vehicles. Workers came up to the vehicles, removed the hazardous household materials and sorted them for the Town, as the cars exited.
Rogers said that some of the hazardous materials are recycled, though most are incinerated at special facilities outside of New Canaan.
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