Bethel First Selectman Matt Knickerbocker will co-chair a 65 town coalition to pursue improved waste reduction strategies. 

The municipalities, along with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection have formed the Connecticut Coalition for Sustainable Materials Management.  This initiative comes at a time of aging waste-to-energy infrastructure like the MIRA Resource Recovery facility.  The coalition is holding its first meeting on September 8th, breaking into working groups on specific topics – such as organics collection – and developing waste reduction-related action items. 

Among the 65 municipalities are Bethel, Brookfield, Kent, Ridgefield, Washington, and Weston. 

Without a new plan, DEEP says it's likely that an increased amount of the state’s municipal solid waste would be shipped out of state for landfilling.  DEEP says Landfilling is the least preferred management option for solid waste and can be minimized by embracing more sustainable practices, including source reduction, recycling, composting, anaerobic digestion and other conversion technologies.