Face the Facts

Face the Facts: DEEP Commissioner Talks About Plan to Address Trash Crisis

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DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes is discussing the governor’s plan to address the state’s current trash crisis.

Mike Hydeck: Searching for solutions to Connecticut's trash trouble after a trash to energy plant closed in Hartford. Connecticut has been shipping more than 850 tons of garbage out of the state. Now lawmakers are looking for ways to both save money and the environment. But how to do it is a very complex problem with a lot of stakeholders. So where do we start? Joining me now is Katie Dykes. She's the Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Commissioner, welcome back to Face the Facts.

Katie Dykes: Mike, it's great to be with you.

Mike Hydeck: So when the state chose not to fund a renovation or refurbish of the MIRA plant, that trash to energy plant in Hartford back in 2020, back then, when they said we don't want to do this, was a transition plan in place at that time?

Katie Dykes: We've been working hard since 2019 on managing measures that can help us regain control of our waste stream and do it in a more sustainable and affordable way. And this year, it's really gotten the attention of the legislature. We are thrilled Governor Lamont has introduced legislation that would help us regain self sufficiency. Right now 40% of the waste that we're generating is being shipped out of state to Pennsylvania to landfills. And that's not good for municipalities. While we might not you know, as a resident, you wheel your trash out to the curb every week, and you don't think about where it goes, one of the big impacts that we're seeing is on municipal budgets. Tip fees have doubled. That's the payment that municipalities pay for disposing of a ton of waste. That significant increase is putting pressure on municipal budgets and forcing municipal leaders to have to make tough choices between programs that residents want and improve their quality of life like schools and sidewalks and so on, or paying a premium to ship garbage out of state. The good news is the governor's plan would come up with a way to tackle 40 percent of that challenge with more recycling programs, and providing for convenient and affordable ways to compost your food scraps curbside.

Mike Hydeck: So let me let me interrupt you real quick. So there, we do have other trash to energy plants in Connecticut. Is building a new one part of a solution? Maybe a bridge to a more sustainable option in the future or is that off the table? In your consideration? It seems like there should have been a transition plan here instead of just shutting one down and having no other option.

Katie Dykes: Well, we've been working hard with municipalities to develop the best in class options. In my view, the first ones we should be, the first strategies we need to reach for are the ones that are the most affordable and sustainable. And so our, the governor's bill, by prioritizing a recycling program called Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility and a curbside organics program support, we'll tackle about 40 percent of the waste that we're currently shipping out of state with those sustainable programs. The remainder, I think we do need to work with municipalities and on investing in more innovative waste disposal infrastructure to manage the remainder that we can't effectively recycle and compost.

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Mike Hydeck: Let's go back to that compelling packages to try to use more sustainable products that can be easily decomposed. That's going to take a while, right? I mean, we remember when McDonald's all had the Big Mac in Styrofoam for years, and then they phased them out over three, four or five years. Now, they come in cardboard. Is that what you're talking about? And do you believe that can happen quickly because we have the problem now with plastics and other things that we still need to take care of?

Katie Dykes: Well, it's never been more urgent for us to put this program in place. Packaging is an increasing share of the material that's going into our waste stream every year. And it's becoming more expensive to manage. And we've seen other states around us in the US, Maine, Oregon, California, Colorado, potentially New York really soon, have been adopting this new program that puts the manufacturers in the driver's seat. Makes them, shifts the responsibility for paying for the cost of all recycling and disposing of all this packaging on the folks who are creating that packaging. If you think about all those Amazon boxes that are you know, piling up at the holidays, right? Municipal budgets right now have to pay for recycling that material. But this bill would give municipalities the option to shift that responsibility over to the manufacturers. We think it'll incent them to design packaging that's easier to recycle. And they can utilize existing in state recycling facilities, and it'll save money, $50 million annually off of municipal budgets. And that's why this is one of the centerpieces of the governor's bill.

Mike Hydeck: It's just gonna take time to get there. One last question. And I have a little less than a minute, so I want to try to sneak it in if I can. The plan involves something called a stewardship program that's getting pushback from the trash haulers. What is stewardship, and why are they pushing back on it?

Katie Dykes: Well, I think that, you know, the question here is whether we're centering the needs of our taxpayers, our citizens, our residents in our communities, in our approach to addressing our waste crisis. I think that that's really who we need to put first. And that will lead to better policy. A stewardship organization is simply an organization that can help to organize the recycling, our responsibilities for manufacturers if we shift the responsibility for recycling to those manufacturers. And we have successful, successfully used this model in the state. Mattresses, heat, electronic waste, we have stewardship organizations that are managing those kinds of products, where we've taken this step earlier, in shifting responsibility to manufacturers of those products to manage their disposal. So I'm confident this can work here in the state of Connecticut.

Mike Hydeck: Well, we have to leave it there. There's so much more to talk about. But as this starts to move forward, I'd like to have you back to talk more about the intricacies of how we're going to try to solve this problem because it's not an easy one to solve. We appreciate your time.

Katie Dykes: It's so important and every community will benefit and so I appreciate you taking the time.

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