West Hartford will begin a pilot program on May 1, involving 685 homes in the Morley neighborhood, where residents will be asked to separate their food scraps from their trash in order to develop data about the impact the diversion can have on reducing the total amount of household waste. The theme of this year’s Earth Week is “Investing in Our Planet,” Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said during a Monday morning press conference at West Hartford Town Hall, highlighting as a great example the town’s plans to partner with Blue Earth Compost to increase waste diversion which will in turn increase sustainability and positively impact equity.
“It is a fact that we unfortunately throw out 40% of our food every year. That is a huge amount of wasted resources, wasted money, and it’s especially troubling when people are experiencing food insecurity and when grocery prices have gone up so much with inflation,” Bysiewicz said. Food waste has a negative impact on the environment, as well as the economy. According to Recycle Track Systems, food waste is the largest component taking up space in our landfills.” She thanked West Hartford Mayor Shari Cantor and other town officials for being innovators, and noted that her hometown of Middletown has a pilot program as well, but only in the restaurant district.
In West Hartford, participants in the pilot will be all homes in the area bounded by Trout Brook Drive to the west, North Quaker Lane to the east, Fern Street to the south, and Asylum Avenue to the north. The area was chosen for multiple reasons, including that it’s fairly densely-populated, residents are engaged with each other, the grid layout makes the collection simpler, and because the roadways are well-traveled and the pilot will be visible to many others in the community.