CRRA to Pay Towns $337,257.50 for Recycling;
Cornwall, Salisbury, Sharon Top Recyclers in Period Measured

Recycling Also Saved Towns $2.3 Million in Trash Disposal Fees

HARTFORD, Conn. – Once again, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, Connecticut’s recycling leader, has shown that it pays to recycle. Today the CRRA Board of Directors voted to pay a $10-per-ton rebate to 64 Mid-Connecticut Project municipalities for recyclables they delivered to CRRA during Fiscal Year 2013.

The rebates cover the final months of the Mid-Connecticut Project, July 1 through Nov. 15, 2012, when the Project expired. Most of those towns signed contracts with CRRA’s Connecticut Solid Waste System that began Nov. 16, 2012.

CRRA will pay out a total of $337,257.50 in rebates. Just by recycling, those towns also saved more than $2.3 million in trash disposal fees; at the time, those towns were paying $69 per ton of garbage delivered to CRRA but zero for recyclables.

“Since 1991 we’ve been doing everything we can to encourage our towns to maximize their recycling,” said CRRA President Thomas D. Kirk. “These rebates are just one more tool we use to help Connecticut meet its recycling goals.”

Here are other CRRA initiatives to increase recycling:

• In 2008, CRRA introduced to Connecticut single-stream recycling, the next generation of recycling.
• In 2009, CRRA supported the introduction of single-stream recycling with a public awareness campaign that featured radio advertisements, printed materials and press interviews.
• In 2010, CRRA began accepting plastics #3 through #7 from Mid-Connecticut Project cities and towns.
• Its award-winning education programs, offered through the CRRA Trash Museum in Hartford, have attracted more than 800,000 participants. In 2012, CRRA received a CQIA Innovation Prize from the Connecticut Quality Improvement Partnership for its education programs.
• In 2013, CRRA began accepting books and large rigid plastic items for recycling.

As a result, CRRA towns have improved their recycling performance for seven straight years (see chart at right) even though the state as a whole has not seen any progress in that time.

Money for these rebates
was available from the
funds remaining at the
close of the Mid-Connec-ticut Project. The CRRA board has yet to decide whether to pay rebates for CSWS recycling during the remainder of the fiscal year, from Nov. 16, 2012, through June 30, 2013.

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 75 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.

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