Recycling Rate Increases Again
for 64 CRRA Municipalities

Towns Recycle 91,779 Tons, Save $6.3 Million
in Trash Disposal Fees in Fiscal Year 2012

HARTFORD, Conn. – While recycling has stagnated statewide for several years, the 64 cities and towns that recycle through the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority’s Mid-Connecticut Project just recorded their sixth consecutive yearly increase in their recycling rate.

For the fiscal year running from July 1, 2011, through June 30, 2012, Mid-Connecticut Project recycling towns delivered 91,779 tons of paper, cardboard, cans, bottles and electronics to CRRA. Because towns pay nothing to deliver recyclables, but $69 per ton in fiscal year 2012 to deliver trash, they avoided $6.3 million in trash disposal fees just by recycling.

Since 2006, when those towns recycled 76,525 tons, the 2012 total represents an increase of more than 18 percent. And with trash from Mid-Connecticut recycling towns dropping from 860,752 tons in fiscal 2006 to 708,934 tons in 2012, their recycling rate (as shown in the chart above) has jumped more than 31 percent.

(Editors: click on the chart or here do download a 300-dpi .jpg version of the chart.)

According to the most recent figures from the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection, Connecticut’s overall recycling rate has been stagnant since the late 1990s. And according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the tonnage of newspapers, magazines, glass and plastic bottles and jars, steel and aluminum cans and other common household recyclables generated in the United States dropped by more than 8 percent between 2000 and 2010.

“The fact that we’ve been able to increase our towns’ recycling rate for the sixth year in a row is great news, especially since it helped our towns avoid millions of dollars in trash disposal fees,” said Thomas D. Kirk, CRRA president. “But if we’re going to meet the state Solid Waste Management Plan’s ambitious goals for recycling, we need to do more. That’s why we’re working to develop a food-waste composting facility, which will help our state take the next big jump toward meeting its goals.”

Among the year’s top performers:

• Watertown increased its tonnage by more than 29 percent, from 1,278 tons in fiscal 2011 to 1,651.95 in fiscal 2012, and its recycling rate from 8.9 percent to 12.3 percent.
• Cornwall had the system’s best recycling rate at 26.36 percent.
• For the fifth straight year, Sharon and Salisbury, who combine their recyclables, led the towns by recycling 274.22 pounds per person.

These recycling rates are a comparison of recyclables delivered to CRRA with trash delivered to CRRA. They do not include tires, lead-acid batteries, waste oil, scrap metal and other materials that must be required by state law but are not commonly collected at curbside.

These recycling rates are a comparison of recyclables delivered to CRRA with trash delivered to CRRA. They do not include tires, lead-acid batteries, waste oil, scrap metal and other materials that must be required by state law but are not commonly collected at curbside.

In recent years CRRA has launched several initiative designed to increase recycling in Mid-Connecticut communities:

• In 2005 CRRA expanded its menu of acceptable items to include junk mail, magazines, computer printer paper and other types of mixed paper.
• In 2008, CRRA introduced to Connecticut single-stream recycling, the next generation of recycling, while adding oversized jars and bottles, aerosol cans and more types of cardboard to its list of acceptable items.
• In 2009, CRRA supported the introduction of single-stream recycling with a public awareness campaign that featured radio advertisements, printed materials and press interviews, along with the sustainability education programs it offers at the CRRA Trash Museum. The effectiveness of CRRA’s unique combination of education and single-stream technology earned a 2012 CQIA Innovation Prize from the Connecticut Quality Improvement Award Partnership.
• In 2010, CRRA began accepting plastics #3 through #7 from Mid-Connecticut Project cities and towns.

Residents of those towns also produced these environmental benefits just by recycling:

• They saved as much energy as more than 9,300 households use in a year, or as much as would be saved by taking 13,869 cars off the road for a year.
• They prevented the emitting of 190,428 tons of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas linked to climate change, or as much as almost 35,000 cars emit in one year.
• They obviated the mining of 3,345 tons of limestone, 3,432 tons of iron ore, 1,922 tons of coal, 3,431 tons of soda ash and 1,339 tons of feldspar.
• They saved more than 1 million trees.

 
The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority is a quasi-public agency whose mission is to work for – and in – the best interests of the municipalities of the state of Connecticut. CRRA’s board of directors and management team develop and implement environmentally sound solutions and best practices for solid waste disposal and recycling management on behalf of municipalities. CRRA serves 93 Connecticut cities and towns. CRRA also runs award-winning sustainability education programs through the CRRA Trash Museum in Hartford. For more information about CRRA and its activities, visit http://www.crra.org. Computer users can also discuss CRRA on its blog, and follow CRRA on Twitter at @CRRA.

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For a complete table of trash and recycling data for all 64 CRRA Mid-Connecticut Project recycling communities, click here.