Town of Seymour, CT

Program Details

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Connecticut Is Facing a Trash Crisis:

  • Waste disposal capacity in the US is shrinking.

  • The New England region is expected to lose 40% of its trash disposal capacity in the next 5 years and up to 100% by 2040.

  • The MIRA incinerator in Hartford, is no longer burning trash; this facility was relied on by Seymour and 34 neighboring communities, leaving us without a disposal site.

  • Siting a new incinerator or landfill in our Town is not a good option financially or environmentally.

  • The alternative of trucking CT trash up to 600 miles out of state is expensive and not sustainable. We need a new approach.

We Need Everybody to Reduce Their Waste:

  • Food scraps make up 20% of the waste we currently throw away and can easily be converted to energy and compost right here in Connecticut.

  • Weekly Curbside Food Scrap Co-Collection would allow residents to recycle their food scraps with no additional transportation costs.

  • Removing food waste from the trash and converting those scraps into clean, renewable energy can save us money.

Seymour Is Leading the Way Towards a Solution:

  • Seymour received a $132,000 dollar grant from DEEP to implement a small pilot program in the Town.

  • The pilot program will allow the Town and residents to try the program before deciding if we want to make it permanent. The co-collection pilot program is free to residents in the pilot area.

  • All households in the pilot area (Monday’s route) will co-collect trash and food scraps in special color-coded trash bags provided by the town.

Here's How You Can Participate:

  • Residents on Monday’s collection route will receive an allotment free colored-coded bags for the duration of the 9-month pilot:

    • green (8-gallon) bags for food scraps

    • orange (15-gallon) tall kitchen bags for non-recyclable household trash

  • Recycling of paper & cardboard and bottles & cans will continue as usual.

  • Residents should tie and close each of the orange and green bags and place out for collection each week.

  • The same truck will pick up the bags and bring them to a facility so that the food scraps can be captured and converted to green energy.

  • Learn more at the links at the top of the page!

More Information

For more information, please contact the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG) Or visit the Town of Seymour’s webpage

Contact

Christine O’Neill, NVCOG
49 Leavenworth Street,
Waterbury, CT 06702

ReduceTheTrash@nvcogct.gov
(203) 489-0351

nvcogct.gov