Bridgeport, CT’s Expanded Recycling Center Aims for 600K Bottles/Cans

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): Fred Miers wants to make bottle redemption fun. Whether or not he succeeds, for the next few weeks he will at least make it more profitable for people. “Starting Nov. 1 we’re going to pay six cents on each container,” Miers said. “It’s just a promotion to let people know and my customer base that use me, ‘Hey, I appreciate your business.'”

That’s particularly important since he has relocated recently, hopping over the border from West Broad Street in Stratford, where Miers opened his bottle return center 30 years ago, to a larger site two miles away at 1100 Boston Ave. in Bridgeport. The formal ribbon cutting was Oct. 24. Miers had to move because the West Broad Street property he had been leasing was sold and approved for a new warehouse and distribution center. But he explained he had already been on the hunt for a bigger facility thanks to some recent changes to Connecticut law.

The so-called bottle bill first took effect in 1980. State lawmakers have expanded the types of beverage containers included in the program and, as of January, the deposit amount consumers pay and can redeem at businesses like Miers’ will rise from five cents to ten cents. “(That is) creating a higher incentive for the public,” Miers said. His old location was 40,000 square feet while the Bridgeport space is 68,000. He processed 400,000 containers daily in Stratford and hopes that figure will over the next year increase to 600,000.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com