Pilot Food Scrap Diversion Program Will Help Solve the State’s Waste Disposal Crisis
The City of Middletown is excited to announce the launch of a pilot Food Scrap to Clean Energy program in the City’s Sanitation District. The program will allow all homes and businesses using carts in the District to easily separate food scraps and have them collected curbside in the same container now used for resident’s trash collection. Middletown, along with 15 other municipalities received a Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) grant from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to develop and launch food to clean energy programs. Food scrap diversion programs are critical in addressing the waste disposal crisis in our state.
Connecticut is facing a solid waste disposal crisis, as traditional options for disposing of municipal solid waste (MSW) are diminishing or becoming more expensive. With fewer and rapidly aging disposal options in the state, residents, businesses and municipal leaders can expect disposal costs to increase at the remaining waste incineration facilities as well as out-of-state landfilling.
Thirty-five percent of what residents throw away is organic material—food scraps and yard waste—that can be diverted for composting or anaerobic digestion to create clean energy. The Middletown Food Scrap to Clean Energy program, funded through a $350,000 DEEP SMM grant, will launch a year long pilot for curbside food scrap diversion beginning November 21st. Participation in the program comes at no cost to the 2200 eligible generators, and the funding will cover the purchase of special color-coded bags for trash and for food scrap separation for year-long pilot program, educational materials, including the Connect mobile App, as well as personnel to sort the bags, and the shipment of food scraps to Quantum Biopower in Southington where the food will be converted into clean electricity.
Mayor Ben Florsheim said "We are very excited for Middletown to be leading the way in Connecticut with this innovative, free, curbside food to clean energy collection program. The DEEP SMM grant allows eligible households and businesses the opportunity to participate in a program that can have a positive and significant financial and environmental impact for our city.”
Starting last weekend Sanitation District customers who use carts received a box of free trash and food scrap bags, with information on the program, and instructions on how to download the Connect App. The program officially starts on November 21, just in time to capture thanksgiving discards! Customers are required to use the orange bags for trash and the green bags for food scraps. Both the green and orange bags go in the regular trash containers. There is no change to recycling. Recyclables should NEVER be bagged.
Additional information will be available at a presentation on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 6:00 pm. at the Middletown Free Center, 52 No. Main Street. Participants in the program will receive a free kitchen food scrap container.
More information is available at https://www.middletownct.gov/201/Sanitation-Division or https://reducethetrashct.com/middletown/.
