The City of Shelton is planning changes to its household garbage and recycling program that will save the city millions in the long run, Mayor Mark Lauretti said in an interview with the Valley Indy last month.
The changes, which are tentatively slated to be rolled out Sept. 1, will also result in a more eco-friendly waste collection program, Lauretti said.
The mayor said not all the details have been ironed out, but estimated the city will save about $500,000 a year going forward.
“We think we can do it a lot cheaper now,” Lauretti said. “This is really a must.”
More specifics about the city’s plans will be unveiled as the changes are finalized, Lauretti said.
The city will give out new containers — one for garbage, another for recyclables — for residents to put out at their curbsides on the same schedule they do now.
The city will also be buying new “automated refuse trucks” with mechanical arms to lift the new containers from the curb and dump their contents into the vehicles.
Collection service will still be contracted out to a third party, but the city will own the trucks and lease them back to the company, according to the mayor.
“We need to keep our finger on things,” Lauretti said. “This is a big change for people and we anticipate some issues that we have to manage.”
Residents will no longer have to sort recyclables under the new “single-stream” system, which Lauretti said is becoming more and more prevalent in the state.
He also said he hopes residents will recycle more under the new system, since it will ultimately affect the city’s bottom line.
“Recyclables are now sold, so it becomes a revenue stream for the city, whereas before it was not,” Lauretti said, adding: “We recycle a lot of things that we never did before.”
The city had made nearly $60,000 from the sale of recyclables as of the end of March. Lauretti said that number could reach $100,000 by the end of the fiscal year.
In addition, the city saves $65 for every ton of trash it doesn’t send to Bridgeport to be incinerated, the mayor said.
There are other benefits, too.
“The environment is the key issue as I see it,” John Anglace, president of the Board of Aldermen, said. “You just can’t trash your town, your city, your state.”
But as John Papa, another alderman, noted, the changes will only be as successful as residents make them.
“In order for this to be successful, the people themselves are going to have to take an active part,” Papa said.
The mayor echoed the sentiment.
“If the public recycles more, we’ll generate more savings,” he said. “It’s their pocketbook.”
For information from the city’s website about its current waste collection program, click here. For information on recycling, click here.
