CRRA’s Hartford Facilities

Fact Sheet

• Hartford has eight regional waste facilities that accept waste from as few as eight towns and as many as 70 towns.  To see which towns bring their trash to Hartford click here
• Connecticut burns more of its trash than any other state
• The trash incinerator in Hartford burns 2700 tons of trash per day, more than any of the other five incinerators in Connecticut
• At 17%, asthma rates in Hartford are twice the national average

·        The trash incinerator in Hartford releases mercury, dioxin, nickel and many other toxins known to cause cancer, asthma, diabetes, neurological problems and even early death

• The Connecticut Resource Recovery Authority (CRRA), owner of Hartford’s trash incinerator, is the biggest polluter in the city
• CRRA operates five regional waste facilities in Hartford.  These facilities are:

Ø      One ash landfill

Ø      The largest cardboard & paper recycling facility in the State

Ø      The largest container (glass, metal, and plastics) recycling facility in the State

Ø      The largest bulky waste landfill in the State

Ø      The largest trash-to-energy incinerator in the State

·        CRRA is proposing to expand three of their largest-in-the-state facilities in Hartford.  These facilities are, the bulky waste landfill, the container recycling facility, and the trash incinerators

·        Hartford county is in the top 5% of counties in the U.S. with diesel air toxics

·        Between 400 – 600 diesel powered trucks visit the CRRA facilities in Hartford each day, which adds to the amount of pollutants in our air

·         CRRA is trying to make the City of Hartford liable for the long term maintenance cost of the landfill to which CRRA brought trash from over 100 towns, and from which it profited greatly

·         CRRA does not pay taxes!  Instead, they pay $5 million in PILOT payments to Hartford which may be less than what they would pay if they paid taxes

·         CRRA’s contractors are also exempt from city taxes

·         Very few Hartford residents or people of color are hired as staff or contractors at the CRRA facilities

·         CRRA’s contract with the city expires when the landfill closes, every year since 1995 CRRA has announced that the landfill will close in two years

·         The 23 year old contract with no expiration date prohibits the city from opposing any expansion of the landfills or from regulating CRRA’s operations

·         Every year the City of Hartford must respond to between 50 – 150 fire calls to CRRA’s facilities

·         In 2005, CRRA had 70 fires in their facilities and 460 apparatus calls which required 12,000 hours of un-reimbursed Hartford city staff time

·        CRRA refuses to negotiate with community organizations

·        CRRA refuses to provide Host Community Benefits to Hartford in proportion to the number of regional facilities located here

 HOME