The North Haven Rotary Club collects used cell phones and their batteries, which it submits to the PaceButler Coorperation in Oklahoma for redistribution to the military and needy people around the world. By recycling these phones fewer harmful chemicals end up in landfills, which helps protect our water supply.

Recently you may have heard or read that the state isn’t taking in as much money from unclaimed deposits on plastic water bottles as some officials had hoped.

In 2009 Connecticut expanded its bottle bill to put five-cent deposits on plastic water bottles, the same deposit Connecticut consumers pay on beer and soda bottles and cans. But where the bottlers and distributors keep the nickels from unredeemed beer and soda containers, the state would keep the unclaimed water deposits.

Recycling Education Through Visual and Performance Art The Hartford Recycling Coalition is soliciting proposals from nonprofit organizations for visual and performance art projects which educate residents and promote and encourage single-stream recycling in Hartford. Projects which involve children and youth are encouraged. Two proposals will be selected. Visual arts projects will be displayed and performances
[continue reading...]

The city is now offering enhanced recycling to residents. Residents no longer have to separate their paper recyclables from their bottles, cans and plastics, the public works department announced Friday. via Bristol expanding recycling program – The Bristol Press.

The Nutmeg State will come up short on the $17 million a year it had hoped to collect from unclaimed nickel deposits on water and soda bottles, WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau reports. It turns out people are redeeming the bottles themselves, or perhaps buying less bottled water. LISTEN: WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau
[continue reading...]

Green lodging. It’s a relatively new term, but expect it to become more common as travelers increasingly seek to stay in a place that practices environmentally responsible policies, from saving water to recycling. In Connecticut, there are already 15 accommodations that participate in the Connecticut Green Lodging program, and several of them are located in
[continue reading...]

Milford, Connecticut-based SUBWAY, which has made a commitment to make its restaurants and global operations more environmentally responsible, presented Sustainability Awards to three vendors at its recent annual convention in Chicago.

The companies recognized are: Pactiv’s PWP Industries of Vernon, California; Matosantos Commercial Corp. of Vega Bajam, Puerto Rico; and Closed Loop Recycling of Smithfield, Australia.

Closed Loop undertook a recycling initiative in Australia which saw 130,000 tons of materials removed from the waste stream to be later recycled and remanufactured.

Tolland’s refuse and recycling coordinator position will be left vacant for the foreseeable future, Town Manager Steven R. Werbner said in a memo to the town council. via Tolland To Leave Recycling Coordinator Post Vacant – Courant.com.

Single-stream recycling is here for residents of New Haven, and the city is about to launch formal efforts aimed at boosting recycling rates. Starting next weekend, some residents will receive smaller, 48-gallon, brown bins to be used for trash. The old, 96-gallon, blue bins will now be used for recyclables instead of trash. The idea
[continue reading...]

Hartford, CT (August 5, 2010) – The scores are in.  And state legislators let their environmental grades slip in the 2010 legislative session, according to the 2010 Annual Environmental Scorecard released today by the bipartisan Connecticut League of Conservation Voters (CTLCV).  Citizens who want a sense of how their state legislators performed on environmental issues this
[continue reading...]

The town adopted a recycling ordinance in 1991 after the state passed a law requiring towns to establish a program under the guidelines that no less than 25 percent of solid waste generated be recycled.  The ordinance changes proposed and approved last Wednesday night included taking out any mention of SWEROC, of which the town
[continue reading...]

STAMFORD — Municipal recycling has increased by 39 percent since Stamford adopted a single-stream system one year ago, according to city officials.

It may be trash to most folks, but to those in the waste business, people’s garbage is a valuable commodity. And that’s why there;s a bidding war growing for the estimated 750,000 tons of garbage that 70 towns and cities pay more than $500 million a year to burn at a trash-to-energy plant in Hartford.
[continue reading...]

A state official sent word Wednesday that Derby will receive a permit for its transfer station on Pine Street. It is not clear when the city will re-open the facility. via State Green Lights Derby Transfer Station | Valley Independent Sentinel.

Dennis Schain, a DEP spokesman, confirmed retailers who sell bottles must charge the deposit and then return them when a person returns a bottle of the same product. It doesn’t have to be one they sold, either; just as long as the store sells that brand, in that size, it has to return the deposit.
[continue reading...]

The existing Murphy Road Recycling, LLC recycling facility will process only paper and cardboard and incorporates the same features previously permitted: offices; a truck scale; outdoor staging areas for loaded/empty containers; and a processing building provided with loading docks, and a tipping floor incorporating an indoor rail spur, unloading and storage areas and various mechanical
[continue reading...]

The State Bond Commission has approved $5 million to fund the closure of the Hartford Landfill. The funding, which will be awarded to the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA), is the final installment for the closure project, which has already commenced in the Hartford’s north-end.

The town’s new single-stream recycling program is set to begin this week. Under the new system people can put all recycling into a single container for bi-weekly collection. via East Hartford rolls out single stream recycling program – Courant.com.

The city had been waiting until July 1, the first day of the new fiscal year, to get moving on one part a plan to reform the way the city recycles. The big plan is to downsize residents’ regular trash bins, and upsize their recycling bins, to encourage more recycling—and save the city money. The
[continue reading...]

WILTON — A plastic bag ban could be initiated in Wilton as early as this fall.At Tuesday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting, a proposed Plastic Bag Ordinance was discussed, along with a timeline for debating the issue further. Selectman Ted Hoffstatter said a plastic bag ordinance is a great idea for the already environmentally-friendly town.
[continue reading...]