🔒CT to close transfer station at center of local trash dispute

A Torrington transfer station that became the subject of an unusual dispute involving two trash haulers and allegations of favoritism at the state Capitol will be closed after a year of state control, officials confirmed this week. In a letter sent to town officials last Friday, Department of Administrative Services Commissioner Michelle Gilman announced that her agency would cease operations at the transfer station — which serves around a dozen communities in the Northwest Hills — effective June 30. DAS has been overseeing operations at the facility under a temporary permit issued last summer after lawmakers unexpectedly voted to block its sale to a private owner. Gilman’s letter explained that the decision was based on the anticipated expiration of the agency’s operating permit, as well as the loss of state funding necessary to avoid an increase in tipping fees. The letter also advised town officials to begin searching for other ways to dispose of solid waste and recycling starting on July 1. The decision disrupts plans put in place last year by the regional council of governments to keep the transfer station operating under public ownership. Robert Phillips, the executive of the Northwest Hills Council of Government, said local officials were stunned by the announcement. “Honestly, I think they’re left scrambling at this point,” Phillips said. “I don’t think anyone expected to receive this letter.” The announcement opened up an opportunity for the jilted buyer of transfer station, Enfield-based USA Waste & Recycling, to expand its operations in the region. Frank Antonacci, the chief operating officer of USA Waste, sent a letter to the heads of 11 towns on Monday, offering to enter into long-term contracts to manage their waste at lower rates than the tipping fees currently charged at the Torrington transfer station. In addition, he said the company is still interested in buying the station for $3.25 million. “We are able to provide a seamless transition to our other facility in Winsted, with or without this transfer station,” Antonacci said. “With that being said, we stand by our original offer that we are willing and able to follow through with the purchase, of the Torrington transfer station, if that’s something that’s desirable to DAS.” Leigh Appleby, a spokesman for DAS, said in an email Tuesday that the agency is still determining its next steps regarding the transfer station. If the state were to sell the facility, he said, it would have to follow the legal process for surplus property sales. “It’s also important to clarify that this is not a public-facing facility,” Appleby said in an earlier email. “It accepts waste from municipal clients, not from individual residents.” The Torrington transfer station was previously owned and operating by the Materials Innovation Recycling Authority, or MIRA, a quasi-public agency that for years managed trash disposal for a wide swath of Connecticut. After the 2022 closure of its central waste-to-energy facility in Hartford’s South Meadows, MIRA began to wind down operations and sell off its remaining assets including several regional transfer stations. The board set up to oversee that process voted last year in favor of a plan that would sell the Torrington facility to USA Waste & Recycling for $3.25 million, with the proceeds going to fund the clean up of the South Meadows. Just a few weeks later, however, a late amendment was slipped into the state’s sprawling budget bill that blocked the sale by giving the transfer station’s operating permit over to a newly-created public entity, the Northwest Resource Recovery Authority, NRRA. While no lawmakers ever admitted responsibility for introducing the amendment, the Connecticut Mirror later reported that the language was provided to top staffers in the House and Senate Democratic caucuses by Joseph Mazzarella, an attorney representing another trash hauler, Enviro Express, which had been under contract to operate the Torrington transfer station. Enviro Express has continued to manage day-to-day operations at the facility over the last year as part of an agreement between DAS and the NRRA. Mazzarella did not return a request for comment on Tuesday on behalf of the company. Rista Malanca, the director of community and economic development for the Northwest Hills COG, said the NRRA does not have the funds or the staff available to purchase and operate the transfer station. Instead, she said officials have reached out to local lawmakers about getting legislation passed this year that would transfer ownership of the facility to the authority, which would then negotiate with private haulers that would be paid through tipping fees to manage the facility. Regarding USA Waste’s offer to buy the facility, Malanca said that officials are concerned a sale would give the company a virtual monopoly over the waste hauling business in the region. “The concern is, once they have control of the facility, from then until whenever, they will have complete control over curbside pickup and disposal of trash,” she said. Antonacci, however, said that he has made commitments to town officials that USA Waste would keep the transfer station open to third party haulers. As part of his company’s bid to enter into agreements with the towns to manage their waste, Antonacci said he is preparing a public awareness campaign to inform residents about price of his offer, which he said would cut the existing state-subsidized tipping fees by $8 to $10 per ton of waste. “I believe what we’ve seen happen now is DAS has had a year to evaluate the operations and the feasibility of [the transfer station] and have kind of reaffirmed our our assertions that we are the most affordable option and best pathway forward for those towns,” Antonacci said. CT Mirror reporter Mark Pazniokas contributed to this story.