Waste is always with us. We humans produce a lot of it. According to research by Newsday in 2017, Long Island generates about 2.4 million tons of solid waste each year. And only 27% of it is recycled.
Connecticut produces close to 4,000,000 tons of municipal solid waste each year. All that trash has a big environmental impact. And it presents a challenge of how to get rid of it.
Right now one of the systems many cities and towns in Connecticut have used to process their waste, an incinerator in Hartford that burns trash to generate energy, is set to close. What are the alternatives? And are there programs to develop safer, more environmentally friendly systems of managing waste?
Guests:
- Katie Dykes, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
- David Aldridge, executive director at the Southeastern Connecticut Regional Resource Recovery Authority
- Adrienne Esposito, executive director at the Citizens Campaign for the Environment
- Jane Fasullo, group event outreach and outings manager with the Sierra Club Long Island
- Carl Safina, ecologist, author and founding president of the Safina Center
