![Why we’re shipping our trash elsewhere](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/area-residents-brought-their-trash-and-recyclables-to-the-salisbury-sharon-transfer-station-on-sunday-feb-20.jpg?id=48215972&width=980&quality=90)
Area residents brought their trash and recyclables to the Salisbury-Sharon transfer station on Sunday, Feb. 20.
Photo by Patrick L. Sullivan
SALISBURY — It’s hard to imagine that it would ever get to this point. Up until recently, what we did with our waste in most of the Northwest Corner was quite simple: we bought a sticker at town hall, separated the trash from the recyclables, and took it all to the transfer station, where they would be taken care of.
Anything that might be reusable went into the Swap Shop, a dusty room full of what most people considered junk, but that others saw as an opportunity for reuse. The recyclables were turned over to a company that hauled them away to a facility that separated them, cleaned them and broke them down. If the towns were lucky, the recycling hauler would pay something for the privilege. The trash was sent to an incinerator in Hartford for a fee. End of story.
Before our towns started sending their garbage — known formally in Connecticut as municipal solid waste (MSW) — to incinerators, they deposited them in their own landfills. But by the 1990s, Connecticut had closed almost all of its dumps.
Most of the towns simply converted their landfills to transfer stations. Since 1975, Salisbury and Sharon operated a shared transfer station on land leased from The Hotchkiss School. That changed when the two towns leveraged their partnership to build a new $4.8-million transfer station on Route 44 near the New York state line.
The only landfill of any size remaining in the state is in Putnam, where a massive dump receives nearly 600,000 tons of ash per year from trash-to-energy plants such as the one that burns our waste in Hartford.
Now the situation has become much more complicated and likely much more expensive for our towns. Using two General Electric turbines that date back to the 1950s, the aforementioned trash-to-energy incinerator burns garbage and turns it into electricity — 45 megawatts, to be exact — enough to power 35,000 homes.
Located in the North Meadows section of Hartford and operated by the quasi-public Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA), the facility we send our garbage to is on its last legs.
MIRA’s aging trash-to-energy plant, which handles an estimated 35% of the state’s waste, broke down in 2018 and was out of commission for several months, causing MIRA and its member towns, including Salisbury and Sharon, to scramble. Meanwhile, thousands of tons of garbage began to pile up inside and outside the aging facility.
“It was nerve-wracking,” MIRA President and CEO Thomas D. Kirk told the CT Mirror’s Tom Condon. “Thank God we didn’t have a fire.”
After a temporary fix in 2019, MIRA came up with a plan to replace the plant to the tune of $330 million. The administration of Gov. Ned Lamont practically laughed the proposal right out of the Capital City.
So MIRA’s board made the decision to shut down the trash-to-energy plant and use the property as a glorified transfer station from which to ship the garbage out of state for its remaining member towns.
MIRA’s problems, however, did not start with its busted incinerator. MIRA, formerly known as the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA), prompted ridicule, contempt and cries of injustice when, during the administration of then-Gov. John Rowland, it made an ill-fated $220 million loan to Enron, the energy-trading giant that later went belly-up in an accounting scandal.
When Enron defaulted, CRRA raised its tipping fees to cover its losses, resulting in a protracted and costly lawsuit from its then-70 member towns seeking compensation for the overcharging. The authority finally settled the suit for $21 million.
As one might expect, the antipathy between CRRA and its member towns extends well beyond an ill-advised and unsecured loan to a corrupt corporation. To wit, the authority took legal action in 2006 to try to stop the Salisbury-Sharon transfer station from sending its recyclables to a third party that paid the two towns for the raw materials.
Since it was accepting garbage from the two towns, CRRA insisted it was entitled to taking their paper recyclables as well. What was the price CRRA was willing to pay? Nothing. Town officials said the arrogance was staggering.
“They said they would take our junk mail and not charge us for it,” then-First Selectman Val Bernardoni quipped to this reporter. “They have 70 towns under contract; they’ll make a bundle.”
So it’s safe to say that there’s no reservoir of goodwill among MIRA’s member towns, including those in the Northwest Corner, which relies heavily on the authority. That’s probably why the Lamont administration wanted no part of approving MIRA’s pricey proposal to build a new incinerator. And reputation management might very well be the main reason the General Assembly allowed CRRA to change its name. If you Google MIRA, you won’t find much about its past problems as CRRA.
And so we find ourselves in quite a pickle. The costs of operating our transfer stations will rise — perhaps sharply. Thanks to COVID-related money from the federal government, states and municipalities can probably foot the bills in the short term.
But the day of financial reckoning will arrive soon enough. Last spring, MIRA put out requests for bids for contractors to haul away the waste from its facility. MIRA President and CEO Thomas Kirk told Condon its current disposal rate for garbage is $105.
If the 49 member towns don’t jump ship, Kirk forecasts a tipping fee of $114-$119 a ton in the first year of a five-year disposal contract, going to $139 in the fifth year. That rate could rise by $15 if more towns bail out on MIRA, or it could rise by even more if, as expected, MIRA must ship waste to landfills as far away as Alabama or Michigan. To give you a sense of perspective, as recently as 2019, the cost was $83 per ton.
With antiquated systems for collecting fees and perverse incentives for recycling still in place in our towns, the current trajectory is clearly unsustainable. What can we do? Stay tuned.
This is the first of a two-part series on Connecticut’s waste crisis and how it affects the Northwest Corner.
Dan Moran, left, and Wiley Fails, right, walk down the fairway to the green with a competitor from Lakeview High School, center. Moran shot 52 on nine holes and Fails shot 57 during Housy's first preseason golf match.
LITCHFIELD — Housatonic Valley Regional High School took on Lakeview High School for a Berkshire League preseason match Wednesday, Aug. 28.
Hosted at Lichfield Country Club, the two teams put forth six official golfers to pair up in three foursomes with the lowest four scores contributing to team totals. Additional players from each side matched against each other for practice play.
HVRHS coach Peter Vermilyea was excited to see his team hit the links for the first time this season. Although the match did not count toward Berkshire League rankings, player scores from the meet will contribute to the season totals for state rankings.
The nine-hole course was recovering from recent heavy rains. Lakeview coach Rob Gollow described conditions as “very soft” because “it was pretty much half underwater last week.”
It was about 83 degrees at tee time with high humidity and no breeze. Mature trees provided a welcomed shade around the course.
Lakeview won the meet with a score of 163 to HVRHS’s 202.
Jonas Johnson chipping onto the green. Johnson scored 47 on nine holes Wednesday, Aug. 28 during Housy's first golf match of the new schoolyear. Photo by Riley Klein
Lakeview leader Ryan Blasavage medaled in the meet with a score of 38. John Gilbert shot 39, Vincent Salvietti 40 and Grace Thompson 46.
HVRHS was led by Jake Bosio who shot a 46 over nine holes. Jonas Johnson shot 47, Dan Moran 52 and Wiley Fails 57.
LAKEVILLE — Ann Marie Nonkin, 80, of Millerton Road, passed away Aug. 25, 2024, at Connecticut Hospice in Branford. She was the loving wife of the late Dr. Paul Nonkin.
She was born April 12, 1944 in Queens, New York, the daughter of the late John and Ann Vallen.
She was a medical technician for Manhattan Eye and Ear for many years.
She was an active Parishioner in years past at St. Mary’s Church in Lakeville, where she ran many activities. Alongside that, she was an avid gardener.
She is survived by one cousin, Joan Jalbert.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Aug. 30 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Mary’s Church the Parish of St. Martin of Tours in Lakeville.
A burial will be on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 10:00 a.m. at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island.
Memorial contributions can be made to The Little Guild, 285 Sharon Goshen Turnpike in West Cornwall, CT 06796.
The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.
CORNWALL — Long standing tax collector Jean Bouteiller will step down at the end of her two-year term this November.
With no qualified residents stepping forward to run for the position, the Board of Selectmen discussed the prospect of making the role an appointed job at a meeting Aug. 20.
Tax collectors must pass several exams and serve in the role for three years before becoming certified. With two-year terms, it would take multiple elections for a newcomer to build up experience.
Many Connecticut towns have made the change to appointing professional tax collectors as opposed to electing residents. The selectmen motioned to add this proposed change to the agenda for the annual town meeting this fall. A draft of the ordinance was sent to the town attorney for review.
First Selectman Gordon Ridgway noted that Kent is in a similar position with its tax collector stepping down. It may be possible to collaborate with Kent to appoint a full time individual to cover both towns.
“It’s always good to partner with our neighbors when we can,” said Ridgway.
Bears
Encounters with black bears remain frequent in Cornwall. Joggers have been intercepted, farmers have lost crops, and trash bins have been ransacked.
The selectmen reported farms on Cream Hill have experienced heavy impact.
“Bears are definitely enjoying the sweet corn up there,” said Selectman Jen Markow.
Ridgway requested residents submit damage reports to Town Hall. The documentation will be compiled to show the extent of the issue to towns in the state that do not experience bear encounters.
“I think there will need to be an education program for places that don’t have as many bear,” he said. “The population is growing exponentially.”
Hans Pedersen, age 7, of Sharon, showed his Guernsey, Paisley, at the Dutchess County Fair on Saturday, Aug. 24. The calf was born Dec. 12, 2023, and is from Coon Brothers Farm in Amenia.
RHINEBECK, N.Y. — The Dutchess County 9th annual Agricultural Forum was held on Aug. 22 at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds.
Local farmers, elected officials, and representatives from conservancy organizations attended the forum to discuss agricultural history and how the industry is a critical component of the county’s economic success, generating over $45 million in sales.
A. Gregg Pulver, Dutchess County Comptroller and farmer, began the forum by introducing representatives of the agricultural community and elected officials who share the same vision: “the promotion of agriculture, horticulture, mechanical and domestic arts, fine arts, and allied sciences through education, instruction, display, and competition.”
The Agricultural Society is a non-profit corporation with 80 members and 16 directors on its board. The group oversees all aspects of the well-known Dutchess County Fair and handles all off-season events.
They receive no funding from Dutchess County or other local governments. According to their website, “All agricultural fairs in New York State receive premium money through NYS Ag & Markets. The money received from NYS Ag & Markets plus additional funds donated by the Society is given to the Dutchess County Cornell Cooperative Extension for 4-H premiums.” Three-quarters of their annual income comes from the Dutchess County Fair, yet all profits they earn from operations are returned to their facilities.
However, during the forum, many farmers discuss their struggles with maintaining support from local communities and residents.
“You can buy stuff from Amazon that you didn’t even know existed,” Eric Ooms, New York State Farm Bureau Vice-President, said. “There is stuff you can buy now that you never could get before, so you don’t have the local support that you once had, that, frankly, we all miss.”
Ooms discussed the death of dairy farms and how he has been seeing a major decrease in the industry. “It’s sad for me that there are fewer dairy farms, and there used to be a ton,” Ooms said. “But the positive is that people are doing things that would have been crazy to even think about trying 20 years ago, but we have those opportunities.”
The Agricultural Society has been very involved with the local youth and supports them in many different ways. First, they give out up to $25,000 each year in scholarships. Pulver also announced the creation of a Junior Fair Board, which establishes an environment for the youth to be more involved with the community.
“We have some of the junior board members here,” Pulver said, “Thank you for sitting up there and the work that you do and advocating for not only agriculture but the future of the fair.
“We were talking about that on the radio earlier. Making sure that this energy continues here, that the youth is involved with knowing some of the old, long-standing traditions and carrying them out, and learning how some of the tough decisions are made.”