By Dan Boughton
Spoiler alert: The following article contains many snippets of good news about sustainable and environmental topics going on in Glastonbury.
Kudos to the town of Glastonbury for achieving Gold status from Sustainable CT. Glastonbury was one of only five towns in Connecticut to receive this certification. Sustainable CT measures municipalities in a number of areas to include equity inclusion and training, access to open space, land stewardship, creating a natural resource and wildlife inventory, invasive species education and management, enhancing pollinator pathways, zero emission vehicle deployment, reducing energy usage in municipal buildings, and food waste diversion programs. You can see the full report on the Glastonbury Town website.
This accolade for Glastonbury illustrates how town staff played a significant role in this achievement. Outside of town Government are many civic organizations that help to set a culture of sustainable living and an environmental focus on their volunteer efforts. Glastonbury Partners in Planting and all of the garden clubs contribute countless amount of hours to enhancing the quality of life in Glastonbury. Bike Walk Glastonbury is a key player in the development of many pedestrian and bike friendly trails. The newly opened trail over the Rt. 3 Putnam bridge was driven by their efforts. Glastonbury Pollinator Pathway now runs yearly native plant sales and has installed four pollinator gardens in town. The Environmental Action Team, made up of town residents, prime focus is to keep on pushing a strong agenda of ecological awareness and tenacity that benefits all.
Being a recent convert to backyard composting has shown me the benefit that comes with food waste diversion. A special shout out to Mike Manfre who manages the solid waste and recycling in town. Mike has initiated a program where town residents can bring all their food scraps and waste to either behind town hall or to the transfer station. Blue Earth Compost in Hartford also has an available subscription service to all Glastonbury citizens and businesses. This combination of backyard composting and food waste diversion has resulted in a nearly 53% decrease of garbage, aka municipal solid waste (MSW) from 2009 to 2024. This decrease in MSW tonnage is saving our taxpayers over $128,000 per year. It also lessens the amount of harmful methane emissions into Earth’s atmosphere. Trader Joe’s along with Starbucks in Glastonbury have recently joined in by by partnering with Blue Earth Compost. We have a number of excellent eateries in town. Who is going to step up next? Also, the BOE has recently put in place the collection of all food waste at our K-5 schools. This models a sustainable behavior that will serve our town well with its future generations. Glastonbury is really a superstar with composting and food waste diversion!
Can you take one more piece of good news? I recently attended an event hosted by the Hill and Dale garden club. A representative from USA Waste and Recycling shared some cool information. The company recently constructed and opened in 2022 a state-of-the-art recycling facility in Berlin CT. This facility processes 50 tons of recyclable material an hour. This is one of the largest and most innovative recycling facilities in North America. The National Waste & Recycling Association recently awarded the company the 2023 recycling facility of the year. And yes, Glastonbury does bring all of its recyclables to this facility. All good stuff and good news. Let’s keep this momentum rolling by knowing that all our thoughtful actions and behaviors towards the environment lead to a better quality of life in Glastonbury.
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