HRRA | Annual Billboard Contest

2023 Recycling Billboard Contest

Congratulations to the 2023 Recycling Billboard Contest Winners!

Click here to view all the regional winners!

CLICK HERE to visit us on Facebook and share the success of the regional winners.

2023 Grand Prize Winner
Caiden Davidson – 3rd Grade – Meeting House Hill School
His artwork will be displayed for 6 weeks on
20 HARTbuses from May to June 2023

Materials that can be
Recycled “Outside the Bin”

(Click on box for description)

Electronic Waste (E-Waste)

An electronics recycling law took effect in the fall of 2010.
Under the law, each town is required to provide its residents with a free, convenient, and accessible collection point for recycling electronic waste.
Acceptable items should be placed in the light blue container at your local transfer station. And it’s free! There is no charge to recycle electronic waste at the transfer station.

Click here for the list of acceptable electronics and drop-off locations.

Careful disposal of these items is important because many electronic products contain hazardous components. Computer monitors and televisions can contain leaded glass. Materials such as beryllium, mercury, cadmium, nickel, zinc, silver and gold can be found in printed circuit boards. Cadmium can also be found in batteries and mercury can be present in relays and switches. If it is not recovered for recycling, it will likely end up in a waste-to-energy facility, where most of our trash is disposed in Connecticut. Incineration of e-waste can produce dioxin and contribute to heavy metal contamination in the atmosphere.

Batteries

Single Use / Rechargeable batteries can be recycled in the Electronic Waste (E-Waste) Container at your local transfer station.

Rechargeable batteries are commonly found in cordless phones, power tools, portable electronics and cell phones. They include nickel-cadmium, nickel metal hydride, small sealed lead-acid and lithium ion batteries. Rechargeable batteries can also be brought to an HRRA household hazardous waste (HHW) collection events.

Watch or Button Batteries (Silver Oxide Batteries)

Silver oxide batteries are hazardous when put in the regular trash. Many jewelry and watch stores will recycle the silver oxide battery when you bring your watch in to have the battery replaced. Otherwise, silver oxide batteries can go to an HRRA household hazardous waste (HHW) collection event.

Food Scraps

Food scraps can be recycled by separating them from your trash into a separate container. The food scraps can be placed in a home composting site, food scraps program at a participating transfer station, or collected by a registered food scraps collector/hauler.
HRRA towns with a food scraps program include Bridgewater, New Fairfield, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield, and Wilton.

Composting reduces the amount of material you need to put out at the curb each week and enables you to turn vegetable and yard waste into a valuable soil conditioner for use in your backyard. More food reaches landfills and incinerators than any other single material in our everyday trash. Compost added to gardens, construction sites, and poor soils makes great things happen, such as:

Maximize plant growth.
Effective at preventing soil erosion.
Aid in Stream and land reclamation.
Reconstruction of wetlands.
Help with storm water management.
Reduces the need for fertilizers.
Reduces the need for pesticides.
Improves the over all health of soil.

Click here for more information on food scraps recycling.

Glass

Glass food and beverage containers can be separated. One of the biggest causes for contamination is broken glass particles. The pieces of glass attach themselves to paper, cardboard, and other recyclables contaminating the bails and reducing their value. The glass that is sorted at the material recovery facility is contaminated with bits and pieces of other items such as small pieces of paper, bottle caps, metal, and straws.

All HRRA towns have a collection container for food and beverage glass.

Click here for more information on the glass recycling program and to find the location of the glass container in your town!

Mattresses

In 2013, Connecticut became the first state to pass comprehensive mattress stewardship legislation. Public Act 13-42 requires mattress manufacturers to establish a program to manage unwanted mattresses generated in Connecticut. Learn more about the law by visiting CT DEEP’s page on mattress recycling.

Clean and dry mattresses can be placed in the mattress container at your local transfer station. The mattresses are collected and brought to Park City Green, a mattress recycling company located in Bridgeport. A mattress is made up of metal (mostly steel), wood, cotton batting, paper, fiberfill, urethane foam, and other miscellaneous textiles.

The wood, metal springs and cotton are removed from the mattress. The remaining foam is usually torn up, although some recycling facilities are more sophisticated and utilize shredding machines to shred the foam. The wood is typically sold to wood chippers and used as a fuel source. The cotton and foam are sold to companies that use the materials for insulation and carpet padding. The steel from the metal springs is usually sold to steel recycling companies who melt it down to make new products. There are quite a number of uses for a mattress, and a dedicated recycling facility can recycle up to 90 percent of the mattress.

Paint

The paint recycling law took effect in 2011. Under the law, paint manufacturers assume the costs of managing unwanted latex and oil-based paints. The program is funded by a fee paid by the consumer when they purchase paint.

Residents can take their leftover, unwanted paint to a PaintCare drop-off site or a Household Hazardous Waste Event for reuse or recycling.

Click here to see which paints are accepted in the PaintCare program.

Visit CT DEEP’s page on paint or visit www.PaintCare.org

Plastic Film

Plastic Film can be recycled outside of your bin. Examples of plastic film include produce bags, plastic shipping envelopes, bread bags, dry cleaning bags, case wrap, air pillows, newspaper bags, food storage bags, product overwrap, and bubble wrap. Bring plastic bags and plastic film to your local grocery store and place in the collection bin.

Scrap Metal

Examples of scrap metal can include: aluminum, brass, steel, and copper. These metals are used to form items such as door handles, keys, shelves, cabinets, pipes, and tubing. Scrap metal is accepted at all of the HRRA transfer stations

Shredded Paper

Shredded paper should not go in your mixed recycling bin. However, shredded paper can be recycled separately at several transfer stations.
Shredded paper is accepted at the Kent, Bethel, Ridgefield, New Fairfield, Redding, and Danbury transfer stations.
For towns not accepting shredded paper dispose of your loose paper in your regular recycling bin. If there is a confidential document in your loose paper shred those pages but recycle the rest.

Textiles

Textiles are fabrics that can no longer be donated, such as a shirt with holes. Textiles are free to recycle at all of the HRRA transfer stations.

Accepted items include clothing, footwear, accessories and linens. Items may be ripped, stained or otherwise inappropriate to donate to a thrift store, but they must be dry and bagged for deposit into the bins.

Click Here to see what’s accepted in the textiles container.

Contest Information By Town

Bethel

Coordinator: Rebecca Lacey-Aubin
Email: laceyr@bethel.k12.ct.us
Drop-Off Location: Return artwork to your school or drop-off at the BOE Office

Return your artwork to the teacher or organization that gave you the contest template. If you are entering the contest without a teacher or organization please submit your artwork to your town coordinator using the information above. If you have any questions or concerns, please call or email the HRRA. 203.775.4539 or education@hrra.org

Bridgewater

Coordinator: Claire Cavale
Email: CavaleaC@region-12.org
Drop-Off Location: Burnham School or Bridgewater Town Hall

Brookfield

Coordinator: Lisa Gramling
Email: gramlingl@brookfieldps.org
Drop-Off Location: Brookfield Municipal Center

Danbury

Coordinator: Brigitte Topa
Email: maherb@danbury.k12.ct.us
Drop-Off Location: Return artwork to your school or
send to:
BBAC
Attn: Brigitte Topa
63 Beaver Brook Rd., Danbury

St. Joseph School:
Coordinator: Mary Ann Fleming
Email: mfleming@sjsdanbury.org

Kent

Coordinator: Ane Starr
Email: StarrA@kentcenter.com
Drop-Off Location: Kent Center School

New Fairfield

Coordinator: Jane Stagno
Email: jstagno@newfairfield.org
Drop-Off Location: New Fairfield Park and Rec Office

New Milford

Coordinator: Kelli Solomon
Email: solomonk@newmilfordps.org
Drop-Off Location: Schaghticoke Middle School

Newtown

Coordinator: Arlene Miles
Email: Arlene.miles@newtown-ct.gov
Drop-Off Location: Town Hall – Selectman’s Office

Redding

Coordinator: Paige Silva
Email: psilva@townofreddingct.org
Drop-Off Location: Redding Highway Department

Ridgefield

Coordinator: Tiffany Carlson
Email: recyclingcoordinator@ridgefieldct.org
Drop-Off Location: Town Hall – Information Office

Roxbury

Coordinator: Jessyka Patterson
Email: jessykalox@hotmail.com
Drop-Off Location: Booth Free School, Shepaug, Minor Memorial Library

Sherman

Coordinator: Ruth Byrnes
Email: rbyrnes@townofshermanct.org
Drop-Off Location: Sherman Town Hall

Weston

Coordinator: Michael Aitkenhead
Email: MichaelAitkenhead@westonps.org
Drop-Off Location: Weston High School

Wilton

Coordinator: Tammy Thornton
Email: tammy@wiltongogreen.org
Drop-Off Location: Front Lobby of each Wilton School and Town Hall vestibule, back door