Hartford鈥檚 mayor said this week that the city will no longer send its garbage to a major state-owned trash plant. It鈥檚 a move that could strip the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority of its biggest municipal customer and drive up disposal costs for residents in surrounding towns.
Right now, about 50 towns send their garbage to the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA) in Hartford. The quasi-public was set up decades ago to keep some trash out of landfills and to allow towns to pool their waste and cut down on disposal costs.
But the agency鈥檚 trash-to-energy plant in Hartford is old. MIRA wants to close the incinerator and turn the site into a transfer station in the coming months, but plans have moved slowly with a private vendor to make that transition.
Now the agency faces another hurdle: losing its biggest municipal customer, the city of Hartford. If approved by the City Council, Hartford would stop sending its garbage to MIRA and instead enter into a contract with a private vendor, .
鈥淲e decided this was the right time to make this change for two reasons,鈥� said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin during an interview this week. 鈥淥ne, the simple reason that we could get a better deal for Hartford taxpayers. And, two, there鈥檚 an awful lot of uncertainty when it comes to MIRA鈥檚 future and the future of this facility. This facility is falling apart.鈥�
Hartford officials said the shift away from MIRA could save the city over $400,000 in the first year. MIRA has been plagued with outages in recent years, and the agency鈥檚 president, Tom Kirk, acknowledged on Tuesday that the facility is in trouble.
鈥淲e continue to experience unplanned outages,鈥� Kirk said. 鈥淔rom an efficiency standpoint, a cost standpoint, a reliability standpoint, the plant continues to struggle.鈥�
But Kirk said as big customers jump ship, costs for towns left behind go up.
鈥淭here is a financial impact,鈥� Kirk said. 鈥淲ith Hartford leaving, all the remaining towns will pay more per ton to get rid of their garbage. Because there are less tons to spread those fixed costs over.鈥�
MIRA recalculates its 鈥渢ip fee鈥� for member towns annually. Each year, municipalities are granted an 鈥渙pt out鈥� period to break their contract with the quasi-public. The agency is expected to announce its revised pricing structure in the coming days.
In anticipation, a number of towns are reevaluating if staying with MIRA makes sense.
Naugatuck Mayor Pete Hess said this week his town is cutting ties with the quasi-public. Town leaders from Newington, Wethersfield and Glastonbury also all said via email they鈥檙e considering sending their trash to the private sector.
鈥淭he Town Council is considering it along with the other towns,鈥� said Wethersfield Town Manager Bonnie Therrien in an email. 鈥淓veryone is exploring their options and then our Council will make a final decision.鈥�
Newington, which issued an RFP alongside Wethersfield and Rocky Hill for cheaper trash disposal options, is also struggling with what MIRA鈥檚 slow death means for their budget.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a difficult situation, and it鈥檚 not going to get any better. It鈥檚 going to get more expensive,鈥� Newington Town Manager Keith Chapman told members of the Town Council in January. 鈥淓ventually, [almost] all of the trash is going to have to go outside the state. To the Midwest, probably, or further.鈥�
鈥淲e anticipate we鈥檙e going to have an increase coming into next year鈥檚 budget,鈥� Chapman said.
Chapman said in an email this week that 鈥渢he Town is weighing its options as to how we will move forward. No decision is made yet.鈥�
As more garbage flows into the private sector and the state鈥檚 capacity to handle all that waste shrinks, it鈥檚 not immediately clear where the trash will go. But city leaders and MIRA鈥檚 Kirk agree that more and more of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 waste will likely be trucked to out-of-state landfills.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no short-term solution here. We are going to be sending a million tons of garbage every year to Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, wherever,鈥� Kirk said. 鈥淗opefully that鈥檚 a wake-up call and a call to action, if you will, for state leadership 鈥� to build and maintain the infrastructure necessary to manage the waste we generate here.鈥�
