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Kat Kenny drove up to the Wired Car Wash on Tunxis Hill Road on Tuesday afternoon and began cleaning out the trash in her car. Though she would have liked to recycle the bottles scattered around her vehicle, she didnt have any choice but to place them in the regular trash bin. But if David Becker and a group of other members of the Representative Town Meeting get their way, by the summer shell have another option.
Yeah, if there was a second bin there, I definitely would have thrown [my bottles] in there, Kat said.
Becker, along with fellow RTM members Michael Herley (R-1), Alexis Harrison (R-2), Thomas McCarthy (R-8), Faith Dillon (R-9), James Millington (R-9) and Matthew Rubino (R-10) are sponsoring a change in Fairfields recycling rules that would make it easier for drivers such as Kat to recycle when cleaning their cars.
The town requires apartment and condo complexes to include recycling containers next to all their trash cans. The proposed change would expand that requirement to gas stations and car washes. Marina gas stations and nonprofit benefit car washes would be exempt.
What are the two most frequent places that you empty out your vehicle? Its a gas station, and its a car wash, Becker said. It seems to me that putting something right there for people only continues to encourage recycling.
The RTM sent the bill to the Legislation and Administration Committee at its February meeting. The board could bring it up for full discussion at its next session March 28 and could vote on it as early as April. If it passes, all businesses would have to make the changes by July 1.
Daphne Dixon, a Fairfielder who works with GreenTowns and Creative Directions, says the bill is a step in the right direction. She says it falls in line with the many other green initiatives popping up around town, such as the Fairfield Organic Teaching Farm and Green Drinks. And shed like to see the rule expanded to more places as well.
I think everybody likes recycling to be easy, Daphne said. I dont know exactly the best places for the recycling bins to be placed around town, but I think its certainly something to look at.
What other ways do you think the town can make recycling easier? Share your own ideas in the comments below.
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