The town of Seymour starts a Trash Reduction Pilot Program on Feb. 13 that will run for nine months. When this happens, Seymour will be the third NVCOG member community to implement this program. Ansonia started its program in December and Woodbury is expected to start on Feb. 7.
NVCOG has produced a video that explains how the program will work in Seymour.
Households whose trash is picked up on Mondays are in the pilot and Seymour received a $121,000 grant from the state to run the program, so there is no cost to those residents to participate. The town will collect data throughout the pilot and if it shows that a permanent, town-wide program would save taxpayers money then town leaders may vote to go that route.
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CTDEEP) is funding Trash Reduction Pilot Programs around Connecticut in response to a waste crisis. Currently, cities and towns in Connecticut send a lot of their garbage to facilities in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. This hurts the environment and burdens taxpayers because without any changes waste disposal costs could quintuple by 2050. State and local leaders hope that the pilot programs will pave the way for a healthier and more sustainable way to manage waste.
