Registration Deadline Extended to Monday, March 13, 2023

The Town of Madison, in cooperation with the Town of Guilford, is excited to announce a new food scrap co-collection pilot program that offers residents an opportunity to turn their food scraps into energy through a residential co-collection of trash and food scraps by their existing trash hauler. This pilot program is being funded by DEEP’s Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) grant which was awarded to both Towns through a competitive grant application process.  

Madison and Guilford along with 15 other municipalities received a Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) grant from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to develop and launch food to clean energy programs.  Food scrap co-collection pilot programs are critical in addressing the waste disposal crisis in our state.  

Connecticut is facing a solid waste disposal crisis, as traditional options for disposing of municipal solid waste (MSW) are diminishing or becoming more expensive. With fewer and rapidly aging disposal options in the state, residents and municipal leaders can expect disposal costs to increase.  Twenty-two percent of what residents throw away are food scraps that can be diverted to create clean energy. 

DEEP’s grant funding will cover the purchase of a one-year supply of special color-coded bags for up to 700 households in Guilford and Madison, educational outreach, personnel to sort the food scrap bags, and the shipment of food scraps to Southington to create clean electricity. If you are interested in participating in this important pilot program that will have a positive and significant financial and environmental impact, please apply by March 1, 2023 at http://reducethetrashct.com/gmpilot/

Up to 350 households in each community will be chosen for this one-year food scrap co-collection pilot program based on potential trash hauler collection route designs. If selected to participate in the program, residents would continue to use their existing trash hauler but separate their household trash and food scraps into specially designated colored bags.   Residents will place both the orange trash bags and green food scrap bags in the same container now used for weekly curbside trash collection beginning the last week of March. The green food scrap bags will be sorted at the transfer station and shipped to Quantum BioPower in Southington for conversion into green energy.  Household recycling collection would not be impacted by the program. Households chosen to participate in this pilot program via the application process will receive a one-year supply of color-coded trash bags before the program launch.