Town of West Hartford, CT

Program Details

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 West Hartford 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.

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

West Hartford Is Leading the Way Towards a Solution:
  • West Hartford received a $109,000 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 waste reduction pilot program is free to residents in the pilot area.

  • All households in the pilot area (a section of Monday’s route) will use special color-coded trash bags provided by the town, to separate food scraps from the trash.  Recycling will continue the same.

Here's How You Can Participate:
  • Pilot Program Participants will receive an allotment of 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 in your designated cart.

  • The green food scraps bags will be collected and brought to a facility so that the food scraps can be captured and converted to green energy, saving it from the trash.

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

More Information

For more information, please contact the West Hartford Department of Public Works.

The DPW is open from 7:30 am 3:30 pm

Contact

17 Brixton St.
West Hartford CT 06110

860-561-8100
whrecycles@westhartford.org