By Sierra Club Connecticut
Despite growing concerns over municipal solid waste disposal, the 2025 legislative session failed to pass any bills that meaningfully address waste reduction. As out-of-state landfills reach capacity and aging incinerators shut down, municipalities face rising tipping fees–driven not only by disposal rates, but also by the increasing cost of transporting waste hundreds of miles across state lines. These higher costs will ultimately fall on residents and small businesses through property taxes and waste disposal fees. At the start of the legislative session, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Katie Dykes, along with other experts, raised urgent concerns about the state’s waste crisis during the Municipal Solid Waste Informational Session hosted by the Connecticut General Assembly Environment and Energy and Technology Committees. Despite these warnings, lawmakers failed to pass legislation that would meaningfully address the growing challenges.
Two waste-related bills advanced out of the Environment Committee: House Bill 6917: An Act Concerning the Management of Solid Waste in the State and House Bill 6229: An Act Concerning the Reduction of Single-Use Plastics and Polystyrene Waste. However, as the session progressed, both were stripped of key waste reduction measures–including funding for recycling education, municipal grant funding for composting and unit-based pricing, and bans for styrofoam takeout containers and lunch trays, and single-use plastic stirrers, splash sticks, and straws.
Eventually, the bills merged and ultimately contained only a study of single-use plastic and polystyrene reduction, the requirement of a food donation plan for entities under the Commercial Organics Recycling Law, and an allocation of 20% of the funds from the Sustainable Materials Management account to municipalities with populations of 20,0000 or less. While this bill passed in the House of Representatives on the final day with no opposition, the Senate did not call the bill for a vote.
“The outcome of this year’s legislative session is worrisome. We have stressed the need for waste reduction programs before disposal costs skyrocket. Legislators do not want to allocate money to waste reduction now, but fail to realize that their constituents will be paying more for disposal fees in the near future. Waste reduction programs such as composting and unit-based pricing have been successful in reducing waste and saving money in the state and all over the country. While the CT Zero Waste Coalition thanks the General Assembly for its initial work, we will continue to work with the joint Environment Committee leadership and environmental organizations to ensure waste reduction is a priority next session.”
– Madison Spremulli, Organizer, CT Zero Waste Coalition
“It’s incredibly frustrating to see both HB 6229 and HB 6917 fall short after so much effort to get them across the finish line. Connecticut is facing a growing waste crisis, and right now, our system places the heaviest burdens on low-income communities and communities of color — from diesel truck emissions contributing to asthma and respiratory illness, to plastic pollution that contaminates our environment and water. HB 6229 would have helped phase out polluting polystyrene and single-use plastics, while HB 6917 proposed common-sense steps to reduce food waste, encourage donation, and apply a small fee to exported waste. These were practical, forward-looking solutions that would have made our waste system more just, more sustainable, and better aligned with our climate and public health goals.”
– Julianna Larue, Organizer, Sierra Club Connecticut
“Connecticut’s state-identified Environmental Justice Communities are home to four trash incinerators that harm the health of working-class residents. To minimize the amount of waste burned at these facilities and transported out of state, members of the CT Zero Waste Coalition supported HB 6917 and HB 6229 to reduce the production of single-use plastics and polystyrene waste in the state. We call on the General Assembly to revisit the goals of these two innovative bills next session to address our growing waste crisis.”
– Alex Rodriguez, Environmental Justice Specialist, Save the Sound
“The fact that Connecticut is in a waste crisis is irrefutable. As the hauling and processing costs keep rising and the associated air, waste, and water pollution continue to impact our neighborhoods, we must act with much more urgency to reduce waste and reuse materials. HB 6917 and HB 6229, as originally written, would have helped achieve many of the needed steps. We must work together now and also find the mutual savings and benefits that a regional approach to waste management would bring. There is no good reason to manage our waste and recycling streams in 169 different ways! Cooperation between neighboring towns will help reduce the burden we have created.”
– Diane Lauricella, Norwalk Zero Waste Coalition
