This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Happy Earth Day from the Simsbury Recycling Committee

Dear Neighbor,

Did you know that the Town of Simsbury receives a rebate on every ton of recyclables generated within our borders? That’s right! Recycling reduces the amount of trash-which means less waste to incinerate or landfill. Recycling lowers air and water pollution levels; conserves water; saves energy; enhances the sustainability of our community; and lowers levels of greenhouse gas emissions. And recycling generates money versus the costs required for waste disposal!

Currently just over 24 percent of our Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), commonly known as trash, is recycled. While that is significant, the goal of the Connecticut Solid Waste Plan is to reduce our waste stream by 58 percent by 2024. To do that, we need to address every phase of the waste stream--from generating less trash from the start to more effectively recycling that which is produced.

Find out what's happening in Simsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As members of the Simsbury Recycling Committee, we know education is key to enhancing our efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle. In honor of Earth Day, we are kicking off a campaign to discuss recycling best practices with Simsbury residents. There are literally thousands of ways to boost our impact, most without great sacrifice. For starters, below is a list of websites providing a wealth of data on recycling in Connecticut and some general recycling guidelines.

We already have some great advantages to improving our recycling numbers in Simsbury. The adoption of single-stream recycling a few years ago allows homeowners to co-mingle recyclable materials that previously had to be bundled separately for pick up. We also have a wonderful Swap Shoppe located at the Transfer Station at 74 Wolcott Road. The Swap Shoppe is open on Saturdays from 9 am-2 pm, April through October, for all Simsbury residents to bring in a variety of gently used items for other residents to pick up for free. Last year almost 850 items were “adopted” by “shoppers”, items that would have ended up in the waste stream.

Find out what's happening in Simsburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Finally, we have you! Each and every one of us is responsible for the waste we generate. And we know there are lots of ideas out there to improve our success at reducing, reusing and recycling. So for this next year, we are asking everyone to pledge to adopt one new action, every month, to reduce the amount of waste they generate and increase the amount of waste they reuse and recycle.

This is just the start of our conversation. We look forward to hearing any suggestions and tips you have. Please feel free to contact us at recycle@simsbury-ct.gov. Thanks in advance for your support in achieving our goal!

Happy Earth Day,

Town of Simsbury Recycling Committee

 

For More Information on Recycling

 

         Department of Energy and Environmental Protection

www.ct.gov/deep/site/default.asp

Click on the “Environmental Quality” tab and then find “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”

in the drop down menu. Also check out the “What do I do with…?”

page for a complete listing of materials for recycling.

 

·         Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority

www.CRRA.org

 

·         All Waste, Inc.

www.allwaster.com/

 

·         Paines, Inc.

www.painesinc.com

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?