KENT—Kent’s move to reduce the amount of Solid Municipal Waste transported to the Housatonic Regional Refuse Authority (HRRA) is promising, according to Jennifer Heaton-Jones, HRRA executive director.
“It’s amazing,” she told the Board of Selectmen in late August. “The Town of Kent collected 49,693 tons of organic waste [food scraps] in 2023-24 during the pilot program and, in just in July and August, you have collected about 5.8 tons.”
“Not all towns have embraced this the way you have done in Kent,” she said. “Well done.”
The pilot program’s objective was to demonstrate that food scrap collection and unit-based pricing would result in significantly lower waste disposal per household.
Heaton-Jones displayed a MSW data a graph showing pre-pilot program results, the full pilot program era, and the first two months of the permanent program.
Heaton-Jones said that all the Kent data shows “a very healthy trend.”
“Even with the increased tip fee [$101], the first two months of the permanent program has produced a $2,096 savings to the town,” she revealed.
The town pays $100 a ton to HRRA to dispose of trash. Her data showed that for the months of July and August, tipping fees paid in 2024-25 are down 45 percent from the same months in 2022-23, prior to the pilot program.
“Kent collected 49,693 tons of organic waste [food scraps] in 2023-24 during the pilot program and, in just in July and August, you have collected about 5.8 tons. Not all towns have embraced this the way you have done in Kent. Well done.”
—Jennifer Heaton-Jones, executive director of HRRA
Thirty-two percent of MSW transported to transfer sites is organic material that can be recycled and kept out of the waste stream.
This is important because Connecticut is facing a waste management crisis. Its residents produce 3.5 million tons of refuse a year, while the state has the capacity to handle only 2.7 million tons. The rest must be transported out of state on railroad cars.
The state once had six waste-to-energy plants, but two have been phased out, leaving plants only in Bristol, Bridgeport, Lisbon, and Preston. The MIRA plant, which contracted with 51 towns, was shut down in 2022, leaving between 600,000 and 720,000 tons of garbage to be transported to Midwest landfills annually.
Last year, when the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection initiated its pilot program, Kent received a $55,400 grant to implement it. Special bags were distributed for MSW as well as biodegradable bags for food scraps.
The program was made permanent this year when the selectmen reduced the permit price for use of the transfer station and started selling orange unit-based-pricing bags to be used for disposal.
Permittees are responsible for the amount of material they dispose of, which gives them an incentive to consider alternative options such as donating, repurposing, recycling or composting as less costly options.
Heaton Jones showed a graphic that explained the process. Households that bring three bags of refuse to the transfer station each week pay $245 a year; two bags, $180; a single bag $115; and a bag every other week, $85.
“This is a fair program,” said Heaton-Jones. “When I explain unit-based pricing, I ask people if they feel they should have to pay for their neighbor’s electricity and they say, ‘Of course not.’”
“This is the same thing.,” she said. “We shouldn’t be paying for a neighbor’s electricity, and we shouldn’t be paying for their garbage. Everyone is paying his fair share and has control to reduce that. They can choose to remove organics, so it is a personal choice.”
She praised Kent’s decision to reduce permit fees, which cost everyone the same amount no matter how much their brought to the site, and to sell bags instead. “Compared to other towns, you have a very reasonable rate,” she said.
Original estimates suggested that 670 permits would be sold with an estimated revenue for bags at $75,886. To date 679 permits have been sold, but some 261 residents did not buy bags.
They are presumably using leftover pilot program bags. Actual revenues stand at $73,761 but Heaton-Jones said it is probable that the households that did not purchase bags will have to purchase them in the future.
“Eventually, they will need them, so we will meet the revenue prediction,” she said.
“People ask are we making money—we’re not, we’re keeping it as close as can,” said First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer.
Selectman Lynn Mellis Worthington noted that the figures discussed were only for the HRRA, and didn’t include operational costs at the transfer station. “These costs are not rolled into your figures,” she observed.
“You still have to have personnel and equipment,” agreed Heaton-Jones. “We were just focusing on reducing costs and the impact of waste.”
Municipal Solid Waste is typically defined as material that can’t be recycled, but can also include items such as small rugs, small chairs, pet beds, broken toys, a broken laundry basket and the like.
Items up to four feet are allowed in the MSW waste stream. The materials are taken to the Newtown transfer station and loaded onto 100-yard trucks to be transported to the Bridgeport burn plant.
Bulky waste, on the other hand, is any item over four feet in any dimension, such as larger furniture or wet mattresses that can’t be recycled. It is broken down into smaller pieces at the Danbury transfer station and mixed with MSW to be transported to Bridgeport and burned.
Demolition waste also goes to Danbury where it is sorted and processed with all recyclables being removed. The rest is shipped by train to Midwestern states.
Brush and storm debris is mulched. Tires are not considered bulky or demolition waste and are handled separately No appliances should be placed in bulky waste and are also handled separately as scrap or electronic waste.
