Kent Transfer Station set for major upgrades with $408K grant

KENT — The Kent Transfer Station is set to undergo a series of major renovations meant to modernize and streamline its waste management operations after receiving a state grant of $408,500 in a recent round of funding.

Town, state and regional officials gathered at the facility on Tuesday morning, Nov. 4, to celebrate the award and discuss the future of recycling, composting and waste reduction in Kent and across western Connecticut.

Among the speakers was Jennifer Heaton-Jones, executive director of the Housatonic Resource Recovery Authority (HRRA), a regional government agency that manages waste and recycling programs for 14 municipalities in western Connecticut. “Waste is not a partisan issue — it affects all of us every day,” she told the assembled group.

The funding will support key infrastructure upgrades designed to improve the transfer station’s efficiency and safety. Planned improvements include the construction of a retaining wall to separate waste streams and reduce cross-contamination, a new shed to safely store motor oil, paint and shredded paper, and new canopies over waste and recycling containers to improve material quality and reduce litter. The grant will also fund the installation of a new scale to support Kent’s nascent “pay as you throw” unit-based pricing program.

The “pay-as-you-throw” initiative — made permanent last fall after a successful pilot — charges residents by the bag rather than a flat annual fee, incentivizing lower waste generation. Heaton-Jones said the new scale will help “build on that momentum” by providing data to refine the program and expand composting efforts.

Kent’s award represents nearly one-third of the HRRA’s total $1.5 million allocation from the second round of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) grant program. In late October, DEEP announced $7.5 million in total funding to support municipalities and regional waste authorities across Connecticut.

The grant money comes in the midst of what Heaton-Jones described as a “waste crisis” in the state where, since the dissolution of the Hartford MIRA facility in 2022, about 40% of Connecticut’s municipal solid waste is exported to out-of-state landfills and recycling centers.

Heaton-Jones thanked Conservation Commission Chair and former First Selectman Jean Speck, who spearheaded Kent’s earlier waste reduction initiatives, and current First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer, who helped continue and expand them, praising both for their “consistently demonstrated leadership in waste reduction despite limited resources.”

The attendees, which included State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64), State Sen. Stephen Harding (R-30), First Selectman-Elect Eric Epstein, transfer station staff members Rob Hayes and Rick Osborne, and the majority of the Kent Conservation Commission, agreed with Heaton-Jones’s assessment.

During his own speech, Lindenmayer said that Kent had “set the tone in how we can continue to improve.” He thanked Hayes and Osborne for their contributions and ongoing hard work: “These guys do it with humor and good will and in all types of weather.”

Horn similarly lauded Kent’s commitment to waste reduction, describing it as a town “that has really stuck its neck out,” while Harding admired the town’s ability to come together and work as a team with various groups: “It’s a shining example of addressing our waste crisis efficiently.”