Connecticut DEEP frames statewide solid-waste strategy, highlights pilot grants and planned waste study

Commissioner Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told a joint forum of the Legislature’s Environment Committee and Energy & Technology Committee that the state must rebuild its in‑state approach to municipal solid waste management.

“Connecticut has had a long standing commitment to maintaining self sufficiency in our ability to manage municipal solid waste as a policy priority within the state,” Commissioner Dykes said, summarizing DEEP’s updated Comprehensive Materials Management Strategy (CMMS) and the agency’s statutory charge to amend the statewide solid‑waste plan.

The agency briefed legislators on three near‑term items: results from Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) pilot grants, a second round of SMM funding authorized by the legislature, and a planned waste characterization study. The CMMS and the SMM program are central to DEEP’s stated aim of increasing diversion —…