Kent’s ‘orange bag’ transfer station program is here to stay

KENT — Kent will move forward with a new municipal waste program after a successful pilot year, as voted through at the Aug. 28 Board of Selectmen meeting.

In a conversation after the meeting, First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer said, “we don’t need to practice anymore … We can actually go ahead and do it full time.”

The decision to formally adopt the program — commonly identified by its distinctive “orange bags” — and accept Department of Energy and Environment Protection’s $24,950 grant to support the transition comes after a year-long pilot including approximately 700 households. DEEP awarded the town $55,400 to run the pilot, which involved residents bringing their waste to the municipal transfer station at Maple Street with a unit-based pricing system.

In a presentation to the meeting, Executive Director of the Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority Jennifer Heaton-Jones noted the “very healthy trend” demonstrated by comparing the pre-pilot numbers with today’s, two months after the official implementation of the program. Food scrap collections at the transfer station are rising sharply, and there has been a 45% reduction in municipal solid waste (household trash) between 2022-2023 and 2024-2025. “It proves that a state-issued program can change behavior,” Heaton-Jones said.

It costs residents a $50 annual permit to use the transfer station under the new orange bag program, plus an additional $1.25 per bag. It’s a much fairer price than the $150 dollar flat annual rate previously in place, argued Heaton-Jones and Lindenmayer.

Town Hall to remain open during voting days

The Board of Selectmen also voted to rescind a motion to close Town Hall on election days.

In 2016, the Selectmen voted to close Town Hall on all election days and primaries to avoid “electioneering” amongst officials on the ballot. Lindenmayer, however, argued that decision is no longer sensible given the new reality of early voting, which didn’t exist at the time.

“It doesn’t make sense for me to try and stay home for 14 days and work from my house,” Lindenmayer explained.

There still remains a restriction of “politicking” within 75 feet of voting areas, though Town Hall will be open throughout both early and regular voting days.