To The Editor:

There are two principal reasons why we have a town wide and Town paid recycling program in Newtown. First, it was created to meet the mandates of the State of Connecticut for towns to meet standards aimed at reducing the proportion of “waste” by increasing the amount of recycling. At that time the people of Newtown enthusiastically voted for the existing ordinance to meet that mandate while at the same time helping to reduce or eliminate “dumps” recognizing that the old practice was harmful for the environment. The program has been a huge success on all counts over the years.

I assume that the decision to eliminate the town program is based on cost reduction and budget approvals. However, its really “smoke and mirrors.” Yes, the town will save money and taxes won’t rise as much, but the cost of recycling is just being transferred from one pocket to another. We, the people of Newtown, will bear an even higher cost to recycle than we would if we were to continue the tax-based program.

An additional argument for saving the program is that Newtown offers very few “paid by the Town” and this would eliminate an environmental benefit and a source of pride for our citizens. I also suspect that the cost of the recycling center will rise as a result due to the need for additional resources to manage and control how the waste and recyclables are sorted.

In conclusion, there is no savings for residents who will have to pay extra for a recycling company to pick up their recyclables or drive to the Town facility themselves.

What started as a volunteer program that was successful in every aspect is slowly turning out to be complicated and wasteful and expensive. Don’t do it. Don’t end the program.

Pierre Rochman

Former Chair of the Ordinance Committee of the Legislative Council

Principal author of the Recycling Ordinance

Newtown