Legislative Hearing Discusses Torrington Transfer Station Options

Connecticut relies on out-of-state landfills for disposal of nearly one million tons of municipal solid waste, and costs are rising to collect and dispose of residential trash and recyclables.

On April 1 state lawmakers held a Government Oversight Committee hearing, which included testimony over a request to give away a four-acre site in Torrington for free — even though private industry has made offers for the property. The deadline is June 30 to decide the future of the property, formerly owned by the Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority (MIRA), but which has been temporarily taken over by the State Department of Administrative Services.

A bipartisan group of state lawmakers wants to support the Northwest Resources Recovery Authority (NRRA) in acquiring the solid waste transfer station site at 118 Vista Drive in Torrington.

The bill under consideration by the legislature would transfer the property at no cost to the NRRA, an ancillary agency of Northwest Hills Council of Governments (NHCOG). State Rep. Joe Canino, D-Torrington, testified that he supports Senate Bill 521, which conveys the Torrington Transfer Station property to the NRRA.

“The Torrington Transfer Station property was taken by eminent domain from the city of Torrington in 1987,” he said. “The facility itself was built by MIRA and fully paid for over its 40-year lifespan through tip fees paid by the towns of the northwest corner. Our constituents have already paid for this asset. Our land was taken by the state. It’s time to hand it back.”

Canino said at the heart of this issue is local control: “Our community should control the destiny of the facility so that rate payers, not a single private operator, come first,” he said. “The NRRA has already proven it can operate with remarkable speed.”

He said it established the governing board, adopted bylaws, and opened serious discussions with state agencies and industry partners in record time. “It is committed to competitive tip fees, stable service, and achieving full financial self-sustainability by June 2027 once the current municipal service agreements expire,” he said.

Canino testified that critics argue this model will fail, that its administrative costs will be too high, and that it will require perpetual state subsidy, but those concerns are misplaced: “This is a straightforward operation,” he said.

Canino said the NRRA has already begun conversations with multiple interested parties ready to respond to a RFP (request for proposal) with competitive bids. He said one hauler has offered tip fees roughly $8 to $10 per ton below current subsidized rate of $136 per ton, even while proposing to purchase the facility for $3.25 million.

“That is an attractive short-term number,” he said. “However, if they simply win a competitive bid operations contract under NRRA ownership, they avoid that capital outlay and ownership overhead entirely, which should allow them, or any operator, to bid even more competitively.”

“More importantly, public ownership with periodic RFPs protects our town from future price increases once a single company controls both the transfer station and much of the hauling in the northwest corner,” Canino added. “By keeping the facility in public hands, we guarantee real ongoing competition instead of moving one step closer to a single company controlling both the transfer station infrastructure and hauling services across the northwest corner.”

Dan Jarrem, First Selectman of the town of New Hartford, testified in favor of SB 521. He also serves as the Chairman of the NHCOG.

“We’re here in support of SB 521, the act authorizing the transfer of what I know is 118 Vista Drive, but most everyone knows frequently as the Torrington Transfer Station, to that Northwest Hills Resource Recovery Authority,” he said. “An organization that we’ve created for the sole purpose of sustainably managing municipal solid waste and recycling materials, sole purpose, for the benefit of all of the towns in the northwest corner of Connecticut.”

Jerram added, “We all know, the property is owned by the state of Connecticut, administered through DAS, who acquired it, the property from … MIRA. And we all know that the history of the facility and MIRA and MDA is long and complicated, but that’s not why we’re here. We’re not here to debate the past. We’re not here to complain. We’re here asking for your help. We believe that maintaining the Torrington Transfer Station as a publicly owned facility is the right thing to do for our towns.”

Jerram said regional collaboration has long proven successful in the northwest corner, far beyond their schools, most of which are regionalized. He said NHCOG municipalities have regionalized numerous services, including police, fire, and EMS dispatch, animal control, ambulance and paramedic services, health districts, fire marshals, public works, equipment, collaboratives, and transfer stations.

“These partnerships exist to maintain affordability and efficiency for all our residents,” he said. “Where others have failed, we have continually succeeded. The Torrington Transfer Station Initiative represents another critical opportunity to continue that successful model of regional cooperation, and it should be given every opportunity to succeed.”

Jerram continued, “The NRRA intends to follow the highly successful regionalization model of the Housatonic Resource Recovery Authority, HRRA, which today serves 14 municipalities in [Western] Connecticut. And it should be noted that it took the HRRA about four years to get off the ground to get established and fully implement that vision, get the operational framework going and everything.”

Jerram said they are working on an expedited timeline because of all the changes in the law that are far beyond their control.

“The work currently underway in Northwestern Connecticut reflects a similar long-term approach to try to solve this municipal solid waste problem,” he said. “Ultimately, approving this legislation gives the NRRA a chance at success, and we're hopeful that you'll all be part of that success and support SB 521.”

Some lawmakers want other options considered for the solid waste transfer station. It has been in operation for nearly 40 years, serving the largely rural northwest corner of Connecticut, said State Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield.

The NHCOG has regionalized several municipal functions, including animal control, emergency dispatch, and health districts, so it would make sense to let it take over the solid waste site and review future bids with private waste-collection firms to operate it, Harding said.

Lawmakers on the legislative Government Oversight Committee delved into the issue of public versus private ownership. The state senators and representatives noted the looming late-June deadline impacting the future of garbage collection and recycling for about a dozen towns.

The public hearing on the conveyance of state-owned properties turned into a multi-hour question-and-answer session as skeptical lawmakers led by state Rep. Kurt Vail, R-Stafford, questioned officials on both sides of the issue.

“What’s the rush?” Stafford said. “I’m worried about the time frame. This is a big deal, and if we, politically do things with a knee-jerk reaction, we might not come out with the best result.”

The bill is opposed by corporate interests, with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association saying a privately operated facility would promote economic growth and jobs, while providing an affordable service. Officials from USA Waste & Recycling cited their decades of experience in competitive markets in multiple states, and pointed out that the now-defunct Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, which was reformed into MIRA, went out of business because they failed to meet expenses.

Jonathan Murray, vice president of operations for the company that operates in about 120 Connecticut municipalities, said it supports 2,000 employees.

“At our core, we are an operator,” Murray said, stressing that if USA Waste were to acquire the Torrington site, it would put an additional $100,000 into the local budget from property taxes. “We bring in the staff, the equipment, the infrastructure, and the experience to step in and run facilities from day one.”

Murray said the company put forward a proposal that would deliver significantly lower tip fees than other available options, which translates directly into savings for towns and taxpayers. Ed Spinella, USA Waste’s attorney, said the $184-per-ton cost that the NRRA projects towns would pay could be as high as $60-per-ton more than what USA would charge if it were to acquire the Torrington Transfer Station.

Rista Malanka, Director of Economic and Community Development for the NHCOG, testified in favor of SB 521.

“As we all know, solid waste and recycling are significant cost drivers to both municipalities and local businesses,” she said. “Without a strategic long-term approach, these costs ultimately transfer to higher taxes and increased pressures on businesses. That is why competition and fairness in this system are essential.”

Malanka said municipalities, residents, and businesses must have real choices: “The presence of a public entity supports a competitive marketplace by setting a tip fee ceiling that is not profit driven just as MIRA has done for decades, ensuring pricing remains predictable and sustainable and by providing equal access for all hauler regardless of their size,” she said. “Without a public option, we risk consolidation that would inevitably drive-up prices.”

Malanka said this action directly aligns with the region’s comprehensive economic development strategy that was adopted in 2024. It identifies supporting cost-effective solid waste management as a way to support local business growth and expansion, conveying this property to the NRRA on that goal.

“The importance of maintaining a publicly owned facility is also demonstrated in MIRA’s own policy and procedures, which stated in section 5.2.1, the sale process, that MIRA may sell real property, but the competitive price does not apply to the sale of real property. And whenever practicable, property will be sold to a public or regulating,” she said. “Turn this asset to the NRRA follows both the letter and spirit of that guidance. And then NRRA’s ownership, operations will be competitively bid to private operators, ensuring efficiency while maintaining public recite.”

Jennifer Heaton-Jones, Executive Director of HRRA, said she supports SB 521: “I’m involved because I want to ensure that it is successful,” she said. “I believe the state of Connecticut is in a waste crisis right now. The state of Connecticut generates 3.5 million tons of solid waste annually, yet we only have capacity within our state to incinerate 2.7 million tons.”

She said nearly one million tons of municipal solid waste is shipped out of state to landfills in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and upstate New York.

“We’re now reliant on these out-of-state facilities to manage our garbage,” she said. “It really needs to be a full state project to come up with a strategic plan on what we’re going to do for the next 50 years to manage our own solid waste. We need to start as simple as the Torrington Transfer Station, ensuring that it remains a public facility and that the public, their municipal solid waste is managed properly in partnership with private industry.”