O’Dea Tours Commercial Recycling Center

HARTFORD- To educate himself on Connecticut’s waste and recycling efforts, New Canaan and Wilton State Rep. Thomas O’Dea, toured the All Waste, Inc. Solid Waste and Recycling which is one of the largest privately companies in Connecticut.

O’Dea toured one of the few facilities in Connecticut which offers single stream recycling to commercial customers. The advanced technology at the Hartford plant makes it convenient for customers to recycle by placing all their recyclables into one container. The Recycling Facility and Volume Reduction Facility processes thousands of tons of materials each month. Over a recent 12 month period, they recycled over 51,000 tons of material including commercial mixed paper, cardboard (OCC), phonebooks, sawdust, and even tires and metal.

“Single stream recycling is the way of the future. It makes it much easier for citizens to participate, incorporates more materials, and has proven to be a huge success in the places it has been implemented around the nation. With the advent of commercial recycling, more and more products are able to be re-purposed for another use. If protecting the environment as well as becoming more financially efficient is the goals we are striving for, this concept is a winner,” said Rep. O’Dea, a member of the legislature’s Environment Committee.

There is a proposed bill in the HB-6023, An Act Concerning the Use of Recycled Asphalt Roofing Shingles in Road Paving Materials, which would allow for the use of recycled asphalt roof shingles in road paving materials. Close to a dozen states in the country currently allow asphalt shingles to be used.

At a Transportation Committee public hearing the Department of Transportation expressed interest in the use of recycled materials in asphalt pavement.

The Murphy Road Recycling Plant in Hartford uses state-of-the-art recycling sorting machines that separate different recycling products through the use of conveyor belts, laser optics and air jets. Lasers recognize the type and color of plastic or glass, magnet rollers pick up the metal and air jets blow the paper off. The result is that loads of commercial single stream recycling go in as one mixed product, and come out separated into bales of cardboard, mid-grade papers, plastic food and household cleaner containers, metal containers and glass.