Fairfield to Mark National Recycling Day Nov. 15

Fairfield, CT - If you’re looking for a way to celebrate National Recycling Day – Friday, November 15, 2019 – then plan on checking out a new online tool offered by the Sustainable Fairfield Task Force (SFTF) to help residents recycle more and throw out less.

The new tool, which can be found on the SFTF webpage, is a user-searchable PDF document providing an easy way to identify what household items you can, and can’t, toss in your recycling bin. The tool draws on guidance from the State of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) which oversees the State’s mandatory recycling efforts.

“Recycling is one of the easiest, best ways that individuals and families can help support a more sustainable environment, but there is still lots of confusion about how to do it properly,” said volunteer resident Becky Bunnell who worked with the SFTF and the Town’s Solid Waste and Recycling Department to design the searchable document. “We hope that our easy-to-use tool will help dispel the confusion and encourage residents to get even better at the ‘4 R’s’ – reducing, reusing, recycling, and buying recycled.”

Residents who would like to learn even more about the dos and don'ts of household recycling can also attend a free SFTF-sponsored presentation on Monday, November 18, 2019 by Sherill Baldwin, the State’s DEEP expert in Source Reduction and Recycling, who will introduce and explain Connecticut’s universal list of recyclables. The event will be held at the Fairfield Public Library, 1080 Old Post Road, at 7:00 p.m. in the Memorial Room.

And – to jump-start your thinking right now about how to recycle more effectively – here is a list of quick tips from the SFTF:

1. Old worn clothes, ripped sheets, shoes and other materials such as handbags, old belts, old comforters and even stuffed animals can be recycled at the Fairfield Transfer Station Bay State trailer.

2. Milk and juice cartons can be recycled. Many people think these have to go in the trash.

3. Plastic bags and plastic wrap can – and should – be recycled at drop-off locations at supermarkets and other places; they includes bubble wrap, plastic wrap around water or soda cans, newspaper bags, dry cleaning bags and clean baggies.

4. Don’t put any plastic bags in your recycling bin – they clog the recycling machines. If you carry out your recycling in a plastic bag to your bin, just dump everything in the bin and put the plastic bag in the trash.

5. Batteries, light bulbs and a range of small electronics can be recycled at the Fairfield Transfer Station Electronics trailer.

6. Old paint cans can be recycled at paint recycling centers. Sherwin Williams will take back up to five cans of paint at a time. Empty dried latex paint cans can go in your trash.

7. LOOSE small plastics such as soda bottle caps, mini liquor bottles and small pill bottles can clog the recycling machines. They should go in your trash – NOT your recycling bin. Soda bottle caps can be screwed back on the bottle and then put in recycling.

8. Clean pizza boxes can go in recycling. Dirty pizza boxes need to go in your trash – or tear off the clean part and put just that part in recycling.

9. At the Fairfield Transfer Station, scrap metal – things like old BBQs and metal pots and pans – can be recycled for free; waste motor oil, auto/truck batteries, anti-freeze, and tires can be recycled for a small fee.

10. You can recycle with confidence – while haulers pay a fee to the Town to dispose of trash, there is no such fee for recyclable items, so haulers have a big financial incentive to make sure that recyclables are properly sorted and separated from trash.

The SFTF provides support for Town practices and projects that can help Fairfield manage its growth to safeguard the health of its environment, ensure the reliability and economical use of its natural resources, and preserve the quality of life of its residents – today and for the future. For more information, please visit www.fairfieldct.org/sftf.

For questions or more information, please contact Becky Bunnell at (203) 550-6540.

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Submitted by Fairfield, CT

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