Waste Reduction Committee

Committee Members (Appointed by BOS in Feb., 3-year term). An advisory group that studies and promotes ways to recycle, reuse and reduce solid waste for more efficiency and lower cost.

You might choose to pay your hauler to remove your garbage from your property to a transfer station, but your town taxes pay for the tipping fee, the cost of trash disposal at the incinerator or landfill—$110 for every ton of trash produced in Litchfield. This year, the town will pay $600,000 just to dispose of its trash. Reducing garbage production saves money and the environment, cutting down on pollution and greenhouse gases that impact the climate and public health. 

 

All recyclable items should be empty, rinsed, clean and open. Do not shred, box, bag or bundle. 

 

Many items that don’t go in the blue bin don’t belong in the trash. Bring electronics, mattresses, textiles, furniture and more to the Litchfield Recycling Center. Check the list of accepted items here. 

 

Recycle clean dry plastic bags and plastic wrap to the Litchfield Stop and Shop bin outside the store entrance. Find the list of acceptable items HERE. 

Find free, national recycling solutions for typically hard-to-recycle everyday items, from Bic, Brita, and Burt’s Bees to Swiffer, Teva, and Tide. 

A typical Connecticut family of 4 throws away $1600/year in food waste. Making up almost 1/3 of the weight, food scraps don’t belong in the trash. Heavy and expensive to transport to the incinerator, they can instead be turned into compost, a valuable resource.

Litchfield is one of the few towns in Connecticut to have its own composting facility. Bring your scraps to the Litchfield Recycling Center and turn waste into “black gold.”