North Canaan Transfer Station revamps services, appearance

The 40-foot mural by Cheri Johnson.

Kayla Jacquier

North Canaan Transfer Station revamps services, appearance

NORTH CANAAN — Since the new town administration entered office in November 2023, the Transfer Station has seen a complete overhaul.

All areas of waste management have been reimagined with residents in mind. The main goal of First Selectman Brian Ohler was to improve the station’s operations by “keeping it clean, efficient and welcoming” to achieve both a “visual and tangible result.”

To start, the appearance of the area welcomes townspeople with the vibrant 40-foot-long mural painted on an original shipping container. Local artist Cheri Johnson is a town resident who also produced the Steve Blass Field dugout art. Without any guidelines to direct the inspiration, Cheri envisioned and portrayed all of her unique inspiration to create the evolution of plastics to greenery. From left to right, the mural begins with images of plastic bottles and waste, depicts the process of recycling, and ultimately shows all the beautiful nature, plants, and butterflies that are here when we keep the planet green.

The efficiency of operations has been improved for residents with a straightforward one-way loop and stopping points for trash and recycling drop offs.

Waste bins have been reworked too. This change was designed to make the bins more weather resistant; when the stormwater collects in the bins, the town is required to pay for the weight that accumulates. As a solution, the waste bins are now covered with tarps at night. The result for the town has been thousands of dollars saved in the first half of the year.

The Transfer Station garage is now home to a swap shop.Kayla Jacquier

The Transfer Station is embracing a “revolving door” of reusing items, as First Selectman Brian Ohler stated, by incorporating the empty area in the two-bay garage out front and turning it into a swap shop. This is a way to allow others to find hidden treasures while saving themselves money and minimizing the items thrown into the waste bin, adding weight.

Finally, the last change for the town relates to brush chipping, which is no longer offered. Although the town crew will continue to clean up the local land after harsh weather, chipping is a highly unsafe task. The transfer station has taken safety measures by discontinuing chipping, but will still collect any brush free of charge as a solution to disposal.

This coming fall, North Canaan will start the compost program where authorized food waste and brush will be turned into compost products. The ability to produce an aggregate from disregarded products that would otherwise be considered trash is rewarding for the town. With their paid stickers, community members will then be able to bring home the compost and keep the environment clean in a greater way than before.

While panning the view of the updated transfer station, Ohler remarked, “It’s so nice to go to the dump and it’s not a dump anymore.”

Latest News

East Canaan's CowPots to face the 'Sharks'

Amanda Freund of East Canaan will appear on the television show "Shark Tank" on April 4 to pitch CowPots.

Photo by Ruth Epstein

CANAAN — Fans of the television show “Shark Tank,” stay tuned. On Friday, April 4, Amanda Freund of East Canaan will be facing the panel, imploring members to invest in her unique product: cow poop.

Freund and her father Matthew Freund produce and market CowPots, which are made from the abundance of manure found on their dairy farm. Matthew Freund, realizing cows were producing more manure — 100 pounds per cow per day — than was needed for fertilizing fields for crops, came up with the concept of the pots. Years of trial-and-error experimentation finally resulted in success. In 2006 he began selling the biodegradable pots using 100% composted manure to local stores. Now the pots can be found in outlets across the country, as well as internationally.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss lacrosse ices Kingswood Oxford 19-0

LAKEVILLE — The Hotchkiss School opened the girls varsity lacrosse season with a big win in the snow against Kingswood Oxford School.

The Bearcats won 19-0 in a decisive performance March 26. Twelve different players scored for Hotchkiss, led by Coco Sheronas with four goals.

Keep ReadingShow less
HVRHS releases second quarter honor roll

FALLS VILLAGE — Principal Ian Strever announces the second quarter marking period Honor Roll at Housatonic Valley Regional High School for the 2024-2025 school year.

Highest Honor Roll

Grade 9: Parker Beach (Cornwall), Mia Belter (Salisbury), Lucas Bryant (Cornwall), Addison Green (Kent), Eliana Lang (Salisbury), Alison McCarron (Kent), Katherine Money (Kent), Mira Norbet (Sharon), Abigail Perotti (North Canaan), Karmela Quinion (North Canaan), Owen Schnepf (Wassaic), Federico Vargas Tobon (Salisbury), Emery Wisell (Kent).

Keep ReadingShow less
Thomas Ditto

ANCRAMDALE — Thomas Ditto of Ancramdale, born Thomas David DeWitt Aug. 11, 1944 in New York City changing his surname to Ditto at marriage, passed peacefully on Pi Day, March 14, 2025. He was a husband, father, artist, scientist, Shakespeare scholar, visionary, inventor, actor, mime, filmmaker, clown, teacher, lecturer, colleague, and friend. Recipient of numerous grants, awards and honors in both the arts and sciences, a Guggenheim and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, he was a creative genius beyond his time. In addition to authoring scores of papers, he held several patents and invented the first motion capture system and the Ditto-scope, a radically new kind of telescope. He was a pioneer in computer generated video, film, and performance.

When not hard at work, he was always there to help when needed and he knew how to bring smiles to faces. He loved his family and pets and was supportive of his wife’s cat rescue work.

Keep ReadingShow less