E-newsletter highlighting grant deadlines, upcoming workshops and available resources for municipal recycling and solid waste leaders.
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Reuse and Waste Prevention Resources | |
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CASE STUDY: Middletown’s Reusable Takeout Container Pilot
The Center for EcoTechnology (CET) partnered with the City of Middletown on the pilot. CET conducted research into reusable takeout container programs, evaluated different container types, and sought input from the participating restaurants.
Based on a variety offactors, including the fact that the restaurants were interested in non-plastic containers, the City of Middletown and CET selected a stainless steel container program with tracking technology and an accompanying app-based inventory management system.
In June 2023, the City of Middletown’s Recycling Coordinator, in addition to representatives from the container company and CET, visited the three restaurants to distribute the reusable containers and assist with the initial setup of the project.
View: https://www.centerforecotechnology.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CT-Middletown-Reusables-Case-Study.pdf
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Waste Prevention, Recovery and Diversion Resources | |
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Battery Collection & Recycling Services with Call2Recycle
Charge up battery recycling with best-in-class recycling solutions that are convenient, compliant and safe. Call2Recycle offers turnkey and flexible options to recycle your rechargeable or single-use batteries by shipping in boxes from your home or office. For customers with larger volumes, we can also coordinate freight shipments of batteries for recycling. More information here.
Contact Call2Recycle at 1-877-723-1297 to learn more about these services or to discuss your recycling needs in more detail.
Recent Call2Recycle Presentation by Carin Stuart
at CT SWAC, January 26, 2024
Meeting Agenda Recording here Powerpoint presentation here
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Food Waste Diversion & Composting Workshop Series
4/16/2024 and 4/17/2024
Join the Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), the NH Department of Environmental Services, and Mark King of the Maine Compost School for a series of workshops on food waste diversion and composting. The workshops are designed for facility or organization decisionmakers to attend these workshops, along with their operators (if the decisionmaker is not an operator) so lessons learned can turn into local action more quickly and easily. Because of space restraints, attendance is limited to two representatives per organization or facility. Additional registrants will be put on a waitlist and then notified on April 9th whether they will be able to attend or not. Each workshop earns at least 2.5 NHDES credit hours.
The workshops will be held April 16th and 17th. Morning sessions run from 9am to noon, with registration at 8:30am. Afternoon sessions run from 1pm to 4pm, with registration starting at 12:30pm.
The workshops will be held IN PERSON in the Granite State Conference Room at the Department of Transportation (room 114) at 7 Hazen Drive B15, Concord, NH.
Workshops:
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April 16, 2024 Workshop 1: What’s the Big Deal About Food Waste? Morning
This 3-hour workshop is designed for solid waste operators who work at permitted solid waste facilities (transfer stations, landfills, scrap metal, compost, other process or treatment facilities); community members looking to learn about waste diversion; and municipal officials wishing to understand how their waste can affect the bottom line in the town. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of the Waste Management Hierarchy and how food waste diversion can be a better option for their community.
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April 16, 2024 Workshop 2: Composting Basics: Don’t Oversimplify It, afternoon
This 3-hour workshop is designed for solid waste operators who work at permitted solid waste facilities in NH. Attending operators may or may not be interested in introducing compost at their facilities, but want to know the basics. Attendees will leave with the knowledge that while composting is completely doable, it does come with some skill, finesse, and understanding of your feedstocks.
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April 17, 2024 Workshop 3: Implementing Food Waste Diversion Activities at Your Facility, morning
This 3-hour workshop is designed for solid waste facility operators, owners, and managers who work at permitted solid waste facilities in NH. This workshop includes both instruction and an expert panel. Attending operators are interested in introducing food waste diversion at their facilities and need to know beyond the basics. Attendees will leave with the knowledge of how to site a compost pile at their facility or bring a food waste diversion program to their community.
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April 17, 2024 Workshop 4: Education, Outreach, and Grabbing the Public’s Attention*, afternoon
This 3-hour work session is for solid waste facility operators, owners, and managers who work at permitted solid waste facilities in NH AND their community partners, leaders, and decisionmakers who are interested in introducing a composting program to their community (come in pairs!) Attendees will leave with the knowledge of how to set up an effective outreach program promoting food waste diversion.
*PREREQUISITE: ATTENDANCE OF WORKSHOP 3 REQUIRED for Workshop 4. If an operator is joined by their community partner, at least one person in the pair must have attended Workshop 3.
Find out more:
https://www.nrrarecycles.org/news/food-waste-diversion-composting-workshop-series
Registration: https://www.cognitoforms.com/NortheastResourceRecoveryAssociation/FoodWasteDiversionCompostingWorkshopSeries
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EPA Announces $4.6 Billion in
Climate Pollution Reduction Grants Across Two Competitions,
Deadlines April 1 and May 1, 2024
EPA made available $4.6 billion across two implementation grant competitions, one general competition and one specifically for tribes and territories. Under these funding opportunities, eligible applicants will compete for climate pollution reduction implementation grants to fund measures in their state-, municipality-, tribe-, or territory-specific climate action plans. As part of its application evaluation, EPA will prioritize measures that achieve the greatest reduction in GHG emissions. Measures that address waste and materials management are within the scope. The deadline to apply to the general competition is April 1, 2024. The deadline to apply to the Tribes and territories competition is May 1, 2024. EPA estimates that the implementation grants will be awarded in Fall 2024 for the general competition and in Winter 2024-2025 for the Tribes and territories competition.
More information,
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Reports, Surveys & Other Resources | |
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DEEP's Office of Equity and Environmental Justice
The Office of Equtiy and Environmental Justice now has a newsletter, filled with upcoming opportunities and events. Click here for their recent newsletter.
To receive newsletter directly, please contact us at DEEP.EJ@ct.gov.
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50 States of Recycling 2.0
Report here
In 2021, Eunomia Research & Consulting and the Ball Corporation released the inaugural edition of the 50 States of Recycling Report, a first-of-its-kind state-by-state comparable assessment of common packaging materials based on 2018 data. This calculation set a baseline in each state that can be used to inform policy, design programs, and assess infrastructure needs.
The 50 States Of Recycling 2.0 Provides:
- Updated data and rankings of state recycling rates by material type
- Analysis of the economic, social, and environmental impacts of both current recycling rates and possible optimal recycling rates
- Models the potential impact of recycling policies including:
- Modernized Recycling Refunds (also known as Deposit Return Systems or Bottle Bills) in the Northeast
- Performance of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy only vs. EPR +Recycling Refunds (RR) in two states- Washington and Colorado.
Eunomia hopes this data and analysis will help equip policymakers and industry partners with the information needed to maximize economic, social, and environmental outcomes.
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Food Waste Prevention Week
April 1-7, 2024
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Are You Coordinating a Food Waste Prevention Week Event in CT?
DEEP is a partner for Food Waste Prevention Week (FWPW) this year. This campaign's focus is to promote and educate residents about food loss. Every year, Americans lose more than $218 billion wasted food. Households are responsible for the most wasted food. If we begin to reduce and prevent food waste, residents save money!
In the U.S., the average family of four throws out around $1,400 worth of food annually.
Ideas for community events:
- Host/Show a movie about food loss, food recovery
Ex .Five Films on Food Waste and Hunger
- “Wasted!”
- “A Place at the Table”
- “How to Feed the World”
- “Taste the Waste”
- “Just Eat It”
- Host a trivia night at your favorite brewery. FWPW has a slide deck with trivia questions and DEEP is creating some CT-based questions. You can add your own too!
- Coordinate a school poster contest about food waste.
- Host a cooking workshop; food loss is increased with lack of knowledge about cooking.
- Host a food preservation workshop. Preserving food - everything from freezing to canning - can lengthen the life of fresh foods.
If your town is coordinating an event and would like help promoting it,
or looking for more ideas, please reach out to Sherill.Baldwin@ct.gov.
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Upcoming Events:
FEBRUARY 2024
February 8, 2024 - 4:00pm - How Metz Culinary Management Prevents Food Waste webinar. More information here. Hosted by Leanpath.
February 21, 2024 - 1:00pm - Ask an Expert about Waste Reduction in Healthcare webinar. More information here. Hosted by Busch Systems.
February 26, 2024 - 3:30pm - 4:30pm - Reusables in CT Schools webinar. More information here. Hosted by Wilton Go Green's Zero Waste Schools Coalition.
February 27, 2024 - 1:00pm - 3:00pm - Increate Reuse and Recycling Working Group meeting. Topic: Food Waste Prevention & Food Recovery. Working Group of the CCSMM. More information here. Hosted by CT DEEP.
February 28, 2024 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm - Anaerobic Digestion and Other Solutions for Wasted Food. Wesbinar one in a four-part series. More information here. Hosted by NEWMOA.
MARCH 2024
March 14, 2024 - CT Compost Conference. More information here. Connecticut College, New London, CT. Hosted by the CT Compost Alliance.
March 16, 2024 - 3:00pm - What's IN, What's OUT recycling workshop. Woodbridge Town Library, Woodbridge, CT. Hosted by
March 19, 2024 - 2024 MassRecycle Conference & Trade Show. More information here. Marlborough, MA. Hosted by MassRecycle.
March 21, 2024 - 11:30am - What's IN, What's OUT recycling workshop. Bristol Public Library, Bristol, CT. Hosted by the Bristol Garden Club.
March 21, 2024 - 6:00pm - Backyard Composting Workshop. Comstock Ferre building, Wethersfield, CT. Hosted by the Friends of Kycia Farm.
March 26, 2024 - 9:30am - 11:30am - CT Solid Waste Advisory Committee meeting. More information/agenda. Hosted by CT DEEP. Virtual.
SAVE DATES
April 5, 2024 - Recovered Food as a Pathway to Social Justice and Environmental Wellness. Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, CT. More information soon. Hosted by SCSU, Haven's Harvest and CT DEEP.
April 9, 2024 - 6:30pm - 7:30pm - Food Waste Solutions. Russell Library, Middletown, CT. More information here.
April 16 - 18, 2024 - NYS Organics Summit, Buffalo, NY. More information here.Hosted by NYSAR.
April 30 - May 1, 2024 - NERC Spring Conference, King of Prussia, PA. More information here.
June 3 & 4, 2024 - Next Level Recycling NRRA conference & Expo, Concord, New Hampshire. More information here.
June 11–13, 2024 - 2024 ReFED Food Waste Solutions Summit. Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland. More information here. Early-bird pricing until January 19, 2024.
June 25, 2024 - 9:30am - 11:30am - CT Solid Waste Advisory Committee meeting. More information/agenda. Hosted by CT DEEP. Virtual.
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The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer that is committed to complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act. To request an accommodation contact us at (860) 418-5910 or deep.accommodations@ct.gov. | |
CT DEEP | Source Reduction & Recycling Group | 860-424-4193 | www.ct.gov/deep/recycle | | | | |
