State reaches a decision point on funding MIRA

by Wiley Wood

“Shipping our garbage out to Pennsylvania, Ohio, or West Virginia is not an option,” says Matt Riiska, Norfolk’s first selectman. “It’s our problem, we should be taking care of it.”

Right now, Norfolk’s garbage, about 800 tons of it a year, is hauled by private contractor to the South Meadows waste-to-energy facility in Hartford, and Connecticut’s solid waste system, which is run by MIRA, a public nonprofit, is among the most environmentally progressive in the nation.

But as Thomas Kirk, the president and CEO of MIRA, explained to a group of Northwerst Connecticut mayors and first selectmen on Feb. 13, the South Meadows facility is in “horrible condition” and needs to be rebuilt at a cost of $330 million. Its two turbines, both of which were out of commission for much of last year, “are older than any person in this room,” said Kirk.

If MIRA assumes the full cost, it would translate to tipping fees of $145 per ton, or an increase of about 80 percent over current prices.

Norfolk currently pays about $65,000 a year to MIRA to process its garbage. The new rate would add $50,000 to that cost. “There wasn’t anyone in that room who was going to say yes to $145 a ton,” said Riiska, describing the general reaction to Kirk’s talk.

One alternative is for the state to help MIRA meets its costs, by borrowing money and arranging a higher purchase price for the energy MIRA generates. If the organization can set its tipping fees at about $95 a ton, Kirk believes, it could recruit a critical mass of towns to enlist its services over the next 30-year period.

The other alternative is to scrap the project of rebuilding the South Meadows facility altogether. As there is no landfill capacity within the state, this means that 720,000 tons of municipal solid waste generated by the 52 towns in MIRA’s network will have to be hauled to sites in the South and Midwest.

“It’s like throwing your bag of garbage out the window and letting someone else take care of it,” says Riiska, “They basically toss it into old coal mines.”

Kirk points out that, aside from not being the environmentally preferred option, hauling garbage out of state is likely to become more expensive as the East Coast states absorb Connecticut’s extra three-quarters of a million tons.

In either case, MIRA and its board (chaired by Barkhamsted’s first selectman, Donald Stein) are asking the legislature to reach a decision this year. “I hope we’re disciplined enough here in Connecticut to bite the bullet and decide what to do,” said Kirk. “One thing we don’t need is a new five-year plan.”

Riiska, while unaccepting of a $145 per ton tipping fee, would like to see MIRA’s waste-to-energy facility upgraded. “We have to think what’s going to happen 10, 20, 30 years down the road.”

He would also like to see Norfolk reduce the amount that it throws away and increase the proportion of its recycling. “If we could reduce our waste to 700 tons a year, or 600 tons, that would make a difference.”

Riiska will make a presentation, “Trash Talk,” on municipal garbage and recycling at the Norfolk Hub on Monday, March 30, from 6 to 7 p.m.