By John Renda
It’s no secret that our town has experienced problems with municipal waste, and specifically its disposal, even if they aren’t discussed frequently enough. Throughout the past several years, reports have continually surfaced of New Canaanites misusing the resources through which we can dispose of municipal waste—that is, all of the regular items that people like you and me throw out on a daily basis, from biodegradable waste, to used electronics, to things such as pharmaceuticals and old clothing. For example, the lack of disposal of food waste from the restaurant at Mead Park has been a discussed issue for years, with cups, trays, and paper garbage being left around the premises of the park. Simultaneously a series of town council meetings considered the misuse of waste receptacles in town: municipal waste was being frequently disposed of in receptacles intended for use by our local businesses. With these examples in mind, if you’re still thinking that the effects of such careless disposal of municipal waste don’t manifest themselves seriously, I’d strongly suggest you think again. A 2014 report from NewCanaanite.com vividly described the aesthetic and environmental impacts of our waste disposal habits. In it, the wooded area of Waveny Park just behind New Canaan High School is said to be “completely littered with cans, bottles, wrappers, papers, clothes and other debris,” eviscerating the aesthetic beauty that residents and NCHS students rely on and cherish. The ramifications of our municipal waste disposal habits are thus evident, prolific, and unmistakable.
What’s worse: beyond the problem of waste disposal methods lies the even grander and more urgent issue of our municipal solid waste generation. Over the past several decades, we have witnessed the development of what environmental scientists now refer to as the “Throw-Away Society,” a culture that places emphasis on disposing of instead of reusing materials. In the early days of the twentieth century, virtually all the materials that we used went on to be reused, with excess steel, metal, and glass products always finding a new sense of utility in one’s business or home; this behavior continues to exist in the less developed countries of the world today. As the United States evolved into a more economically developed society, however, the imperative to recycle materials decreased. This critical evolution was accompanied by a drastic increase in municipal solid waste disposal, with single-use products becoming the new societal norm. And that change is represented clearly by the data: from 1960 to 2014, our municipal waste disposal in the United States increased from 80 million metric tons to a staggering 227 million metric tons. This trend is reflected potently in Connecticut: though few statistics were available for New Canaan, one can elicit this conclusion from a number of examples. In just a six month period, New Haven produced over 286,000 tons of municipal waste. Moreover, 520,000 tons of Connecticut’s municipal waste is food waste—much of which Lee Sawyer, a policy officer for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, believes could be saved and utilized to help our state’s hungry families. In addition, it should be noted that the preponderance of this waste ends up in landfills, which yield a litany of negative effects of our health and that of the environment. Just a few months ago, the Hartford Courant reported that a landfill closed in 2008 was determined to be partially responsible for leaking toxic chemicals into the Connecticut River, afflicting the safety of aquatic wildlife and the public health of surrounding communities’ residents. 
So, upon considering these two most significant issues related to municipal solid waste, a dour picture can be painted in our minds. The impacts of our improper disposal and prolific generation of municipal waste trickle down to hurt our economy, our state, and our community as shown in realities ranging from tarnished aesthetics, to an increase in the difficulty of waste disposal for business, to the universal degradation of our natural environment. But thankfully for us, we don’t need to paint it; we have the ability to modify this fate if we can act quickly.
How can we do this? Through working to change the behaviors that have culminated in these problems and to reduce those same behaviors’ current impact. Like most ideas related to improvement of our current practices, this is easy to say, but understandably rather difficult to commit to. Nevertheless, there are a few strategies that we can employ to help improve.
One of the most simple things that we can do to better our municipal waste habits locally is increasing our accountability with regard to disposing waste. If we see waste left on the benches of Mead Park, we can pick it up and dispose of it. If we’re in town and need to throw our trash away, we can make sure to do so in an appropriate receptacle, so as to avoid the detriment of our local businesses and our environment. If we feel concerned about the littered municipal waste in places like the wooded area near the high school, we can participate in promoted cleanup days, such as the “Clean Your Mile” trash pickup day on April 24th, or National Beach Cleanup Day, held on September 21st. We can additionally dispose of some of our more dangerous waste on designated days. The New Canaan Waste Transfer Station, for example, holds a Hazardous Waste Pickup Day—where you can bring hazardous waste such as paints, pesticides, and automotive waste for safe, professional disposal—on September 14th. Your involvement in these small yet integral initiatives helps create a better culture toward the disposal of municipal waste, as well as help our businesses and restore much of the aesthetic beauty our community loses through careless waste disposal methods.
Admittedly, the solution to our waste generation problem is more complex; nevertheless, it can be achieved at a local level and beyond through concerted individual and community action. One of the most powerful methods of reducing our municipal waste footprint is quite simple: give consideration to whether your waste has to be disposed of. A perfect example of this consideration is with the disposal of food waste. As was mentioned before, much of the food waste we throw away unthinkingly could be repurposed to feed families in need. With this in mind, the next time we go to throw away our food waste, let’s make the commitment to consider if we could donate or repackage it. Through doing such a simple action, we may be able to both reduce our municipal waste and help feed our neighbors—improving our community in more than one sense. We can make this same contemplation when thinking about throwing out waste that could be recycled. Even if we feel that we recycle often right now, there is still a strong chance that we could be recycling better. This involves ensuring that what we are recycling is something that can actually be recycled, as opposed to thrown away, something that Edwin Martinez, the refuse superintendent for the city of New Haven, says is “the main problem” regarding effective recycling. So, if you aren’t recycling, of course recycle more; but even if you are, simply considering whether your waste is actually recyclable will help dramatically improve the efficacy and efficiency of the recycling process. Additionally, try to make the commitment to reduce and reuse more of what you would dispose of. Doing tasks such as printing double-sided and attempting to repair broken items, as well as using utensils, cups, bottles, and other single-use products more than once can lead to consequential reductions in your household’s municipal waste output. If you’re still desirous of reducing waste generation after that, try alternative waste disposal methods, such as composting, which involves the decomposition of organic matter such as food waste and recycling of its nutrients into the soil. You can set up a composting system in your backyard, and it will reduce your municipal waste output while simultaneously enriching the quality of your soil. In these ways, we can thus easily recognize that rethinking our waste generation habits does more than just reduce our waste: it benefits the community around us—as well as ourselves!
Lastly but perhaps most importantly, we can commit to educating our community on these same habits and behaviors. The advent of the Internet and social networking provides us with illimitable opportunities to spread the message of better municipal waste disposal and generation habits. With this in mind, share what you are doing to reform your behavior toward municipal waste, and call on others to do the same. Even if just one person in our community internalizes your message, you are still the catalyst for an important and positive change.
Looking at our situation with regard to municipal waste, we can fully perceive that there are challenges to face—some of them small, and others quite significant. But acknowledging this, as we’ve discussed here at length, none of these problems should be seen as insurmountable: fortunately for us, we have countless methods at hand to help remedy them. So, with the knowledge and tactics that we have learned, we must now come together, regardless of sex, age, wealth, or politics, to help bring ourselves and our community closer to a solution.