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Committee pushes to fix carton recycling after MRF tour highlights contamination and operational hurdles
Summary
Simsbury committee members said school carton recycling is uneven across the district, with pour‑away containers and a Latimer Lane compost pilot in place; a recent tour of Murphy Road Recycling showed widespread contamination (cookware, electronics) and that roughly 10–12% of single‑stream material becomes residual waste, prompting calls for education and custodial coordination.
Baird and other committee members told the Simsbury Sustainability Committee that a Carton Council grant provided "pour-away" containers to let students empty milk and juice cartons before recycling. "We got a grant to put these things called pour away, so you can pour off milk or juice and then put the carton into recycling," Baird said, adding that implementation varies by school and that education and custodial buy‑in are critical to success.
Steve, a committee member who works in schools, said one elementary school has launched a composting pilot at Latimer Lane and is beginning implementation. He cautioned that younger students create sorting challenges: "Short of having, like, a monitor standing there and directing the kids... we just know that we have to stay on it," Steve said, describing a steady learning curve and the need for ongoing education.
Joe presented slides from a May 14 tour of Murphy Road Recycling (an operating company for USA Waste) and described the facility's equipment and contamination issues. The tour showed optical sorters, conveyors and AI units and highlighted how everyday items — cookware, license plates, laptops and phone batteries — enter the single‑stream and must be removed to avoid fire hazards. Joe summarized facility performance: about "10 to 12%" of inbound single-stream material leaves as residual waste, he said, and noted the company identifies opportunities for public education.
Committee members agreed to reconstitute the food‑waste/waste working group, invite subject‑matter experts (Nicholas, a food‑waste specialist seen on the tour, and the Center for EcoTechnology/CET were suggested) and coordinate with district administrators and custodial staff to develop an implementation plan. Members also discussed the need for equipment funding: pour‑away containers were funded by a small grant but other bins and materials have been paid for inconsistently across schools.
As next steps, the committee will ask the assistant superintendent and school maintenance leads to meet with volunteers, determine pilot KPIs and confirm whether Latimer Lane composting is processed onsite or sent to a commercial composter. Members said educational materials and targeted tabling at events could help reduce contamination and expand adoption.
