As the state’s recycling and trash authority prepares to shut down, city officials are struggling to find solutions and new vendors to take away the city’s garbage. Pictured is a front yard on East Main Street.

TORRINGTON — As the state’s recycling and trash authority prepares to shut down, city officials are struggling to find solutions and new vendors to take away the city’s garbage.

MIRA, the state’s Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, which handles about one-third of the state’s municipal waste, is expected to close its South Meadows facility in Hartford this year. The closure will leave cities like Torrington looking for a new recipient for its garbage and recycling materials, and likely bring an increase in fees.

According to ctpublic.org, MIRA announced in December 2020 that it planned to close its incinerators at South Meadows by July of next year, citing aging equipment and financial issues. City leaders discussed the closure in October.

Public Works Director Ray Drew told the City Council this week that MIRA’s fees for trash removal are going up, and will continue to increase until the agency closes completely, an action that’s expected by 2027.

Drew said the city’s tipping fees, based on trash per ton, will continue to increase. Towns and cities have the option of signing a short-term contract, allowing them to opt out of any agreement on an annual basis.

“If we become short-term members and pay each year, it’s likely that MIRA won’t exist past 2027,” Drew said.

This week, Winsted’s Board of Selectmen approved signing the short-term agreement with MIRA, with an opt-out contract until 2027. The board didn’t discuss further options during its March 7 meeting.

In 2021, Torrington paid about $3.6 million to have its trash and recycling hauled out of the city. That cost could increase to more than $4 million by 2023, or $115 per ton.

“We’re looking at an increase of about $200,000 a year,” Drew said.

The director explained that an average household is throwing away about 1,194 pounds of trash.

“That’s more than a half ton of trash per household, and that’s not sustainable,” Drew said. “We have to do something. We are looking at what other companies can provide for disposal solutions. We’re also looking at how to prove our recycling; how to get the organics out, and reduce the tonnage of trash we’re putting out. Our numbers are high.”

Torrington recently changed its method for bulky waste; until this year, residents were allowed to leave bulk trash — mattresses, furniture and other large items — on the street with their regular garbage and recycling containers to be picked up. But that privilege has been abused, officials said, and Torrington now requires residents to arrange for pickup, rather than just dumping their large items on the curb.

The new rules seem to be working, Drew said.

“As of Feb, 1, we began requiring bulk waste pickups. For the first seven months of our fiscal year (July 2021 to June 2022), the average number of mattresses picked up in a month was 392,” he said. “In February, we collect 80 mattresses. Our bulk waste before Feb.1 averaged about 91.65 tons (and the cost to the city was $8,065). In February, it was 14.65 tons, and the cost was $2,071.”

Drew said the pickup program is going well.

“Our waste pickup drivers have been leaving information at homes where they see a lot of bulky waste, so they can arrange to have it picked up,” he said.

But much more needs to be done.

“We need to figure out how to get organics out of people’s trash, and reduce the tonnage — our numbers are very high,” the director said. “We’re looking at disposal companies that would charge between $40 and $60 a ton.”

There’s also the challenge of out-of-towners using Torrington’s system.

“I got a call from a resident who wanted to know about arranging for waste pickup, and her comment was ‘How often can I do this?’ We said, as many times as you want,” Drew said. “She said her landlord brings trash in to be picked up, and he lives in Brooklyn. That’s very telling.”

City Council member Paul Cavagnero asked if the city’s ordinances could be made more strict.

Part of the problem, Drew said, is the amount of trash that’s being thrown away.

“When you think about the fact that each (residential) container can hold a ton of trash, and they’re full — that’s unheard of,” he said.

What’s going into the container is difficult to regulate, too.

“If we have people putting wood, stone, building materials that can’t be recycled, can they be prohibited?” said City Council member David Oliver.

“They (already) are prohibited,” Drew said.

The director recommended a full ordinance review, “and reminding people what’s allowed and what’s not,” he said. “What sets the fee for the additional container? What language can we put in the ordinance? I think that’s a fantastic idea.”

Council members must vote on their MIRA short-term contract by March 21, the date of their next meeting.

“We have to talk about changing behaviors,” Carbone said. “There’s a lot of discussion to have; some problems can be solved on the local level, some on the state level and some nationally. We’re hitting a brick wall fast. I used the term ‘crisis’ last year, and I’m using it again this month.”

Emily M. Olson is the community editor for the Torrington Register Citizen, the New Haven Register and the Middletown Press.

She is a 1997 graduate of Western Connecticut State University with a degree in English and a minor in journalism.

She started her career at the Patent Trader newspaper in Westchester County, NY in 1998. After a brief period as a reporter with the Register Citizen in Torrington in 1999, she joined the former Housatonic Publications group as a reporter. She was managing editor of the former Litchfield Enquirer and helped run the weekly newspapers at Housatonic and the Litchfield County Times. She returned to the Register Citizen in 2009.