For some reason, WordPress could not publish this morning’s post. I removed the images, and now it seems to work. Here is the story without the images.
Hopefully it was a one-time glitch. Apologies.
Like many Westporters, Stephanie Bass is a regular visitor to the transfer station,
Unlike some of her fellow trash-tossers, she knows what goes where.
Stephanie reminds “06880” readers that there are several big bins. One is marked “Cardboard.” Others say “Paper only” and “Glass.”
So why, she wonders, do folks toss non-paper waste into the “Paper only” bin?
She guesses that up to one-quarter of the garbage is thrown in the wrong spot.
In addition, she notes, there is composting — and “the huge place we can throw anything else, like paint and aerosol cans.”
Stephanie loves the people who work at the transfer station. They help her back her car up, while other drivers “climb up my back, honk or dash out” past her.
When she was on crutches from a broken leg, they helped her unload her truck. “They are heroes,” she says. (I know: I have highlighted them several times as “Unsung Heroes.” Click here, and here, and here, and here, to see.)
Stephanie assumes that dumping trash in the wrong bin is not illegal. But, she wonders, what happens to now-contaminated paper waste? Can it still be separated, and recycled?
How much extra does it cost to do that?
She asks if a local group, like Boy Scots, can be on hand to help Westporters separate their garbage properly (“and embarrass them,” she adds).
Westporters are a smart bunch, she notes.
Why then are some not bright enough to put their trash in the correct bins?
Recycling information is available on the town website. It says:
While it is convenient for residents to mix recyclables in the same bin, the sorting process for mixed recycling is not perfect. Machines and employees at the MuRF (Multi Re-use Facility) cannot remove all the contamination that occurs in the recycling bin, and this contamination can result in rejected loads that end up in the landfill.
What contamination?
Most of us have seen the partially filled containers, the soggy boxes, the plastic bags, and the shattered bottles that make their way into some recycling bins. The partially filled containers, the soggy cardboard boxes, the plastic bags, and the broken glass, all represent types of contamination that can compromise the quality of our recycling.
Broken glass is a big problem.
Broken shards of glass can attach themselves to the other recyclables in the bin and contaminate them. Conversely, the glass bottles and jars can also be contaminated by the bits and pieces of paper, bottle caps, metal, and straws from the mixed recycling. The MuRF can either pay to have the glass cleaned, or if that is not possible, the contaminated glass is sent to landfills to be used as a type of alternate cover.
There must be a solution.
The solution is simple: When you separate glass from mixed recycling, each recycling stream is freed from contamination by the other, and the value for each recycled commodity improves. The clean, separated glass can be sold and recycled into new bottles and jars or other products such as industrial filler for cement, and the higher quality mixed recycling commodities become more marketable.
How can I recycle glass separately?
In a cooperative effort, the Town of Westport, Sustainable Westport, and the Oak Ridge Materials Recovery Facility, have arranged for a separate, ‘GLASS ONLY’ recycling container (pictured above) at the Westport Transfer Station. Please Remember:
Rinse your glass containers and remove lids or caps.
Glass bottles and jars only.
No mirror or window glass, drinking glasses, glass, ceramic, or clay, plates, cups, pots or bakeware and no lightbulbs
Recycle your clean bottles and jars during regular Transfer Station hours.
(For more information from the town website, click here.)
(Interested in recycling your money? Please click here to support “06880”!)
Posted onNovember 5, 2022|Comments Off on [UPDATE] Trashing Westporters At The Transfer Station
For some reason, WordPress could not publish this morning’s post. I removed the images, and now it seems to work. Here is the story without the images.
Hopefully it was a one-time glitch. Apologies.
Like many Westporters, Stephanie Bass is a regular visitor to the transfer station,
Unlike some of her fellow trash-tossers, she knows what goes where.
Stephanie reminds “06880” readers that there are several big bins. One is marked “Cardboard.” Others say “Paper only” and “Glass.”
So why, she wonders, do folks toss non-paper waste into the “Paper only” bin?
She guesses that up to one-quarter of the garbage is thrown in the wrong spot.
In addition, she notes, there is composting — and “the huge place we can throw anything else, like paint and aerosol cans.”
Stephanie loves the people who work at the transfer station. They help her back her car up, while other drivers “climb up my back, honk or dash out” past her.
When she was on crutches from a broken leg, they helped her unload her truck. “They are heroes,” she says. (I know: I have highlighted them several times as “Unsung Heroes.” Click here, and here, and here, and here, to see.)
Stephanie assumes that dumping trash in the wrong bin is not illegal. But, she wonders, what happens to now-contaminated paper waste? Can it still be separated, and recycled?
How much extra does it cost to do that?
She asks if a local group, like Boy Scots, can be on hand to help Westporters separate their garbage properly (“and embarrass them,” she adds).
Westporters are a smart bunch, she notes.
Why then are some not bright enough to put their trash in the correct bins?
Recycling information is available on the town website. It says:
While it is convenient for residents to mix recyclables in the same bin, the sorting process for mixed recycling is not perfect. Machines and employees at the MuRF (Multi Re-use Facility) cannot remove all the contamination that occurs in the recycling bin, and this contamination can result in rejected loads that end up in the landfill.
What contamination?
Most of us have seen the partially filled containers, the soggy boxes, the plastic bags, and the shattered bottles that make their way into some recycling bins. The partially filled containers, the soggy cardboard boxes, the plastic bags, and the broken glass, all represent types of contamination that can compromise the quality of our recycling.
Broken glass is a big problem.
Broken shards of glass can attach themselves to the other recyclables in the bin and contaminate them. Conversely, the glass bottles and jars can also be contaminated by the bits and pieces of paper, bottle caps, metal, and straws from the mixed recycling. The MuRF can either pay to have the glass cleaned, or if that is not possible, the contaminated glass is sent to landfills to be used as a type of alternate cover.
There must be a solution.
The solution is simple: When you separate glass from mixed recycling, each recycling stream is freed from contamination by the other, and the value for each recycled commodity improves. The clean, separated glass can be sold and recycled into new bottles and jars or other products such as industrial filler for cement, and the higher quality mixed recycling commodities become more marketable.
How can I recycle glass separately?
In a cooperative effort, the Town of Westport, Sustainable Westport, and the Oak Ridge Materials Recovery Facility, have arranged for a separate, ‘GLASS ONLY’ recycling container (pictured above) at the Westport Transfer Station. Please Remember:
Rinse your glass containers and remove lids or caps.
Glass bottles and jars only.
No mirror or window glass, drinking glasses, glass, ceramic, or clay, plates, cups, pots or bakeware and no lightbulbs
Recycle your clean bottles and jars during regular Transfer Station hours.
(For more information from the town website, click here.)
(Interested in recycling your money? Please click here to support “06880”!)
Comments Off on [UPDATE] Trashing Westporters At The Transfer Station
Posted onNovember 5, 2022|Comments Off on Trashing Westporters At The Transfer Station
Like many Westporters, Stephanie Bass is a regular visitor to the transfer station.
Unlike some of her fellow trash-tossers, she knows what goes where.
Stephanie reminds “06880” readers that there are several big bins. One is marked “Cardboard.” Others say “Paper only” and “Glass.”
So why, she wonders, do folks toss non-paper waste into the “Paper only” bin?
She guesses that up to one-quarter of the garbage is thrown in the wrong spot.
In addition, she notes, there is composting — and “the huge place we can throw anything else, like paint and aerosol cans.”
Mixed trash at the recycling station. (Photo/Stephanie Bass)
Stephanie loves the people who work at the transfer station. They help her back her car up, while other drivers “climb up my back, honk or dash out” past her.
When she was on crutches from a broken leg, they helped her unload her truck. “They are heroes,” she says. (I know: I have highlighted them several times as “Unsung Heroes.” Click here, and here, and here, and here, to see.)
Stephanie assumes that dumping trash in the wrong bin is not illegal. But, she wonders, what happens to now-contaminated paper waste? Can it still be separated, and recycled?
How much extra does it cost to do that?
Westport’s transfer station.
She asks if a local group, like Boy Scots, can be on hand to help Westporters separate their garbage properly (“and embarrass them,” she adds).
Westporters are a smart bunch, she notes.
Why then are some not bright enough to put their trash in the correct bins?
Recycling information is available on the town website. It says:
While it is convenient for residents to mix recyclables in the same bin, the sorting process for mixed recycling is not perfect. Machines and employees at the MuRF (Multi Re-use Facility) cannot remove all the contamination that occurs in the recycling bin, and this contamination can result in rejected loads that end up in the landfill.
What contamination?
Most of us have seen the partially filled containers, the soggy boxes, the plastic bags, and the shattered bottles that make their way into some recycling bins. The partially filled containers, the soggy cardboard boxes, the plastic bags, and the broken glass, all represent types of contamination that can compromise the quality of our recycling.
Broken glass is a big problem.
Broken shards of glass can attach themselves to the other recyclables in the bin and contaminate them. Conversely, the glass bottles and jars can also be contaminated by the bits and pieces of paper, bottle caps, metal, and straws from the mixed recycling. The MuRF can either pay to have the glass cleaned, or if that is not possible, the contaminated glass is sent to landfills to be used as a type of alternate cover.
There must be a solution.
The solution is simple: When you separate glass from mixed recycling, each recycling stream is freed from contamination by the other, and the value for each recycled commodity improves. The clean, separated glass can be sold and recycled into new bottles and jars or other products such as industrial filler for cement, and the higher quality mixed recycling commodities become more marketable.
How can I recycle glass separately?
In a cooperative effort, the Town of Westport, Sustainable Westport, and the Oak Ridge Materials Recovery Facility, have arranged for a separate, ‘GLASS ONLY’ recycling container (pictured above) at the Westport Transfer Station. Please Remember:
Rinse your glass containers and remove lids or caps.
Glass bottles and jars only.
No mirror or window glass, drinking glasses, glass, ceramic, or clay, plates, cups, pots or bakeware and no lightbulbs
Recycle your clean bottles and jars during regular Transfer Station hours.
(For more information from the town website, click here.)
(Interested in recycling your money? Please click here to support “06880”!)
Comments Off on Trashing Westporters At The Transfer Station
If you lived in Westport — or anywhere in the Northeast — you were probably cleaning up from Sandy.
The superstorm — not even a hurricane when it landed here — roared in on October 29, 2012.
Here are some scenes from those days:
Hillspoint Road, at what was then Elvira’s and Positano. (Photo/Matt Murray)
Old Mill Beach (Photo/Matt Murray)
Burying Hill Beach.
Saugatuck Shores. (Photos/Inklings staff)
Underneath this garage was a 1960 Mercedes. (Photo by Kathie Bennewitz)
North Avenue.
The Westport YMCA childcare center (then on Church Lane).
The sign on the garage says “Welcome to the Beach.” (Photo/Betsy Phillips)
Public Works took care of a section of boardwalk that ended up far from home.
The view from the Longshore golf course parking lot. The Parks and Rec office is in the background.
Grove Point Road.
Soundview Drive was “sandy” indeed.
Every grill on Compo’s South Beach was knocked over.
Colony Road. (Photo/Drew Angus)
Playhouse Square.
The corner of Highwood Lane and Calvary Road. (Photo/Larry Perlstein)
North Compo Road.
Cob Drive.
North Turkey Hill Road.
Hillspoint Road, near Schlaet’s Point. (Photo/Betsy Phillips)
Main Street.
Soundview Drive. (Photo/Mary Hoffman)
The Wakeman Field port-o-potties.
This satellite image of then-Hurricane Sandy,
Where were you when Sandy struck?
What lessons have we learned (or already forgotten) since then?
Click “Comments” below to share!
(From Superstorm Sandy — and through Hurricanes Irma and Isaias, blizzards, and through gorgeous weather too — “06880” is here for you. Please click here to support your hyper-local blog.)
Posted onNovember 4, 2022|Comments Off on Roundup: Staples Sports, Craft Fair, Black Holes …
Two Staples High School sports teams fell in their quests for FCIAC (league) championships last night.
Both were seeded #3. Both lost to the #1 seeds.
The field hockey team dropped a 3-0 decision to Darien, at Brien McMahon High School. The Blue Wave earned their 5th consecutive title.
The girls soccer squad lost 3-1 to St. Joseph. Evelyn Chudowsky scored the Wreckers’ goal, assisted by her sister Natalie.
Both teams — along with boys soccer — start state tournament play next week. The football team, meanwhile, is still in contention for a state playoff berth.
Meanwhile, the Staples fieldhouse shifts from sports to crafts this weekend.
CraftWestport — a favorite Westport Young Woman’s League fundraiser for over 45 years — returns Saturday and Sunday (November 5-6). Like so many other events, it’s been a COVID-induced hiatus for 2 years.
Over 175 contemporary crafters and makers from across the country will exhibit at what has become Connecticut’s largest indoor crafts festival.
Ticket sales sales fund the WYWL’s community grants to are charities like Bridgeport Rescue Mission, Homes with Hope, Westport Emergency Medical Services and many others.
CraftWestport includes original fashions, accessories, jewelry, home décor, furniture, photography, and artwork like ceramic, glass, metal, wood and mixed media. Food items including honey, maples syrup, cheese and more are also for sale.
Show hours are Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ticket s are $11 adults, $10 seniors, $5 ages 12-18; children under 12 are free; click here to buy.
I’m guessing I wasn’t the only one who didn’t go there much.
Black holes: fact or fiction?
Defy the gravitational pull of Netflix. On November 15 (8 p.m.), open your laptop to the Westport Astronomical Society’s free online science lecture series. Dr. Jeremy Schnittman — a NASA research astrophysicist — highlights the most interesting and exciting aspects of black holes, explores recent discoveries, and notes some science fiction hits and misses.
Chris Frantz — of Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club fame — returns to the Westport Library.
On November 19 (7:30 p.m.), he brings his Emerging Musicians series back to the Trefz Forum. He’ll spotlight 2 Fairfield County acts: Residual Groove (a funk-fusion, improv-heavy dance band) and contemporary singer-songwriter Brian Dolzani.
The Emerging Musicians series features up-and-coming regional, national, and international music, hand-picked by Frantz. The goal is to bring new music to new ears, and incubate rising talent. The concert is a collaboration and production of Verso Studios at The Library, and the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce.
Tickets are $10; there’s also a cash bar. Click here for more information.
Mike Evans is a Westport Weston Family YMCA basketball coach. The Weston native is also the founder of Full Court Peace, a non-profit that repairs basketball courts in underserved communities, then uses the sport to bring people together.
Now he’s written a book about his time in Belfast, where he brought rival Protestant and Catholic teenagers together to play as one team
In “The Belfast Blazers,” Evans dives into the Irish city’s dark history. He describes meeting members of the Irish Republican Army (and the Dalai Lama). Click here for more information.
TAP Strength is well known for its comprehensive, personalized approach to wellness.
On November 16 (6 to 8 p.m., 180 Post Road East), the fitness studio turns into an art studio. Miggs Burroughs, Bonnie Edelman and Alex Silver will show their work. 2 Roads Brewery will provide libations.
For more than 100 years, Save the Children has been saving children.
On November 14 (11:30 a.m., Green’s Farms Congregational Church), Ann Marie and miles and Kim Kilroy — high-ranking members of the non-profit’s leadership ship — will tell the Y’s Women how Save the Children does it. The public is invited.
For decades, Save the Children was headquartered on Wilton Road. The main office is now in Fairfield.
Lauren Tarshis — a Staples High School graduate, longtime Westporter and author of the wildly popular “I Survived” children’s book series — will read from her latest book and answer children’s questions at the Westport Library.
The event is this Saturday (November 5, 3:30 p.m.).
We’ve got a question: Will Lauren survive all those kids?!
And finally … on this day in 1783, Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 was performed for the first time in Linz, Austria. It is also known as (surprise!) the Linz Symphony.
Peter Jennings’ family has been here for 11 generations.
Maxx Crowley — a 4th-generation Westporter — is, by comparison, a new arrival.
For years, the 2 families’ businesses have been friendly rivals — and sometimes partners — in the property management field.
Now they’ve joined forces. A recent merger created a new firm that offers a wide range of services — leasing, maintenance, bookkeeping and more — to commercial and residential owners from Westchester to Hartford.
But they’ll still concentrate on — and be headquartered in — Westport.
SCA Crowley trucks and team outside one of their properties: the 55 Greens Farms Road office complex.
After 28 yeas with the HK Group, Jennings started his own firm, Bayberry Property Management, in 2009. He eventually serviced, and served as a broker for, 80 buildings.
SCA Crowley — the business formed by Maxx’s father Steve — recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. Steve started as a real estate broker, but soon realized that property owners wanted leaf removal, snow shoveling, landscaping, pothole fixing, painting and many other services.
COVID sparked a change in SCA’s real estate management. Homeowners moving from Manhattan and Brooklyn needed help learning about irrigation systems, hot water heaters and pools, and jobs like power-washing patios. The company — whose clients already included Playhouse Square, MoCA Westport, office buildings, medical centers and Homes with Hope facilities — expanded their residential property portfolio.
(From left): Bobby, Steve and Maxx Crowley.
SCA and Bayberry had been friendly for a while. They referred customers to each other’s services.
Now, Crowley says, their combined operations will be even more seamless.
The only change, Jennings adds, is the purchase of new logowear and business cards.
The new firm’s offices will be on Kings Highway North, near Main Street. Its trucks will be at Riverside Avenue.
Though properties extend from White Plains to Hartford, it will still be a “mom-and-pop” company.
Plus other family members.
Maxx Crowley works with his siblings Bobby and Judy. Jennings is joined by his sister Karen, daughter Katie, and sister-in-law Beth.
Both families will continue to contribute to Westport, in non-property management ways too. Steve Crowley is a longtime volunteer with many civic causes. Maxx Crowley is president of the Westport Downtown Association. Jennings is the Green’s Farms Congregational Church historian.
After 15 combined generations, the Jennings and Crowley family histories continue.
(“06880” relies on reader support. Please click here to help your hyper-local blog.)
The Planning & Zoning Commission took no action last night on the retail and hotel project known as The Hamlet at Saugatuck.
Discussion, including comments from the public, ranged from building heights and setbacks to where the proposal fits in the town’s affordable housing plans.
Conversations on the text and map amendment requested for The Hamlet will continue on November 14.
The Thanksgiving Pie Sale is only 3 years old. But it’s already one of the most anticipated of all WTF events.
Plus, it’s for a good great cause. Thanks to a partnership with Earth Animal, the Farm and Westporters will raise funds for Connecticut Food Share, helping neighbors in need.
Oronoque Farms is baking up a storm. Choices include apple and blueberry pies (traditional and crumb), and the holiday classic pumpkin pie.
Click here for pie sizes, prices, and pickup dates and times. Orders end November 18.
The Westport Police have released arrest reports for the October 26-November 2 period.
Three people were detained in custody. Two were charged with identify theft. One was charged with conspiracy to commit larceny, forgery and the sale of a controlled substance.
The following citations were issued:
Traveling unreasonably fast (8)
Cell phone, 1st offense (6)
Violation of any traffic commission regulation (4)
The WPD and Stop & Shop are again sponsoring a Thanksgiving Food Drive. All donations support Homes with Hope’s Food Pantry at the Gillespie Center. and Westport Human Services’ Food Pantry.
Police officers and volunteers will accept non-perishable food items and cash donations at Stop & Shop this Saturday (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.).
The Department of Public Works begins curbside leaf collection on Monday (November 7).
All leaves must be placed in biodegradable paper bags near the curb of a town street by December 5. Residents living on private streets must place their leaves behind the curb of an intersecting town roadway. Leaves placed in plastic bags will not be picked up.
There is no need to call for a pick-up. Crews will complete pick-ups as schedules allow. For further information, call 203-341-1120 or click here.
Meanwhile, extended fall hours begin at the Bayberry Brush Facility (180 Bayberry Lane, behind the Aspetuck Health District.
The yard waste site is now open Monday through Saturday, 7 a.m. 3 p.m. Extended Saturday hours are in effect through December 10.
Westport residents with valid proof of residency may dump up to 6 30-gallon bags or containers full of leaves without a fee. Plastic bags are not allowed.
Any van, pickup or tag-along trailer exceeding the 6-bag limit will be charged $40 per load. Any vehicle or trailer larger than a conventional pickup with a 4-foot by 8-foot bed will be charged $90 per ton.
Any vehicles with a 9-foot body or vehicles changed to significantly enlarge their factory design size will be charged $90 per ton, estimated at 2 ton without weigh slip ($180).
Dump tickets must be purchased at Town Hall, Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., or by Department of Public Works, 110 Myrtle Avenue, Westport, CT 06880.
It’s been awhile since we’ve had major flooding here. (Knock wood.)
First Selectwoman Jen Tooker, and the Public Works, Planning & Zoning, and Conservation Departments have arranged a series of open meetings to discuss stream flooding and the town’s responses to it.
Officials and personnel experienced in flooding issues and flood plain management, as well as regulations and oversight authority, will attend.
Each meeting will cover specific streams in Westport. There will be a general overview, followed by a forum for anyone to raise specific issues. Residents are encouraged to attend the meeting specific to their neighborhood, but may attend any session they choose.
Information from these meetings will be analyzed, and sent to the Flood and Erosion Control Board to determine flooding priorities.
The meetings will take place in Town Hall on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. The full schedule:
Popular Westport photographer Tom Kretsch is being featured at Picture This – Nylen Gallery, the custom frame shop. The theme is “Chasing the Light.”
There’s a reception November 10 (5:30 to 7:30 p.m.). It’s a chance to relax — just like the moods of his local scenes. For more information, click here.
Their hours were long, the commute hard. They didn’t have a lot of time to see a lot of the city.
Now — with many of them retired — they’re enjoying New York walking tours.
Tuesday’s — the 6th in the series — included a jaunt over the Queensboro Bridge. Also called the 59th Street Bridge (by Simon & Garfunkel) and the Ed Koch Bridge (by no one), it connects Manhattan with Long Island City, via Roosevelt Island.
Check out the photo below. Looks like the Y’s men were feelin’ groovy.
Y’s Men members (from left) former 1st Selectman Jim Marpe, tour director Warren Jahn and Bob Mitchell near the peak of the Queensboro Bridge. (Photo and hat tip: Dave Matlow)
Westport attorneys Ken Bernhard and Ted Freedman have again joined forces for a “Soles4Souls” collection. They’re gathering donations of shoes from residents to help lift people out of poverty, and support those who are homeless in the US and around the world.
From now through Thanksgiving, there are collection boxes at Town Hall, police headquarters and the Senior Center. Donors can drop off new or gently used shoes (with no holes or mold). Please tie the laces together, or use rubber bands to keep matched pairs joined.
In the past, Soles4Souls has collected 3,000 pairs of shoes. Bernhard and Freedman hope for at least 500 pairs this year. For more information, click here.
(From left): Ken Bernhard, 1st Selectwoman Jen Tooker, Senior Center director Sue Pfister, Ted Freedman and Westport Police Officer Ashley Delvecchio start the Soles4Souls drive.
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