Stonington residents soon can recycle clothing and other items
Stonington — The town will allow residents to begin recycling items such as used clothing, rags, stuffed animals, shoes, towels, sheets and blankets beginning the week of April 6.
Residents are being provided with two large pink bags to place at the curb with the discarded items for normal weekly trash pickup.
Solid Waste Director John Phetteplace said the town is the first in the region to offer the program after an Ohio company, Simple Recycling, expressed interest in expanding into Connecticut.
Phetteplace said the pilot project here is an opportunity to demonstrate how much clothing and textile items can be removed from the waste stream, thereby increasing recycling, decreasing the town’s cost of disposing trash and reducing the impact on the environment.
He said it is estimated the program will save the town $8,000 to $10,000 annually in tipping fees.
“It’s a great opportunity for us,” Phetteplace said, adding the goal is to expand the program across the region once other communities see it is successful. The company will sort through the items and use them for different purposes such as insulation, rags and filling for automobile upholstery.
Phetteplace said he’s heard concerns the program may impact clothing donations to organizations such as the Stonington Community Center, or COMO, thrift shop.
“Typically, people don’t change their habits. If they’re already donating to the COMO, they’ll keep doing that,” he said.
Phetteplace said the new program is aimed at people who don’t make donations and discard such items in their weekly trash. He added that according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, 85% of clothing ends up in the trash.
“If you’re giving to the COMO, keep giving to the COMO,” he said. “This is for people who don’t do that.”
Residents already have been sent two pink bags to use. When they are placed with items curbside and picked up, the hauler will leave replacement bags for residents. Bags also will be available through the town’s solid waste office.
Under Phetteplace, the town has led the way in the state when it comes to implementing various new programs to decrease the amount of trash it produces. The pay-per-bag program alone has helped the town produce 47% less trash per capita than the average community in Connecticut while reducing the impact on the budget.
Phetteplace said he also is working with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on a pilot program to compost food waste, beginning with commercial operations and then expanding to residential use.
More information abut the pink bag program is available at bit.ly/STCTSWR or simplerecycling.com.
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