The Hartford facility will force the state to send waste to out-of-state landfills.
Tom Kirk, president and CEO of Connecticut’s Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA), recently announced that the state’s Hartford-based waste to energy facility will close by July 1, 2022 at the latest, Connecticut Public Radio reports.
The closure date is dependent, in part, on future operational and maintenance costs.
MIRA represents 51 municipalities in Connecticut. The organization, which was created by the state in 2014, is the successor of the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA). The CRRA was created in 1973 to help the state divert material from landfill through the development of a network of resource recovery facilities.
MIRA’s board took an initial vote to close the Hartford plant earlier this year and transition it to a transfer station after financing prospects and subsidies for the organization dried up. The facility has recently suffered from mechanical failures and other issues due to its age. The state rejected a $330 million proposal to upgrade the aging trash incinerator earlier this year.
Environment Commissioner Katie Dykes On Connecticut’s Looming Waste Crisis (Public Radio interview)
The Hartford plant incinerates between 600,000 and 720,000 tons of waste annually. With MIRA planning to shut down the Hartford facility by July 2022, the organization is still contractually obligated to manage waste for 50 of its member communities through 2027.
“It’s a very significant change in the way we’re handling our waste,” Kirk says. “We’ve landfilled almost none of our garbage for 30-plus years. To now be stepping backwards to a landfill-dependent solution … is a disappointing development.”
Like this? You’ll love our daily EnviroPolitics newsletter
FREE, 30-day, trial subscription
