Greenwich, CT Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

The Recycling Program was adopted by the Representative Town Meeting on December 10, 1990, and Section 8A-1 frames it as a response to findings that prevailing waste disposal practices generally result in unnecessary environmental damage, waste valuable land and other resources, and constitute a continuing hazard to the health and welfare of the citizens. The stated intent is not a voluntary goal but a mandate: the Program exists to require all persons to recycle. Section 8A-2 turns that mandate into a defined list of nine required categories: cardboard, glass food containers, leaves, metal food containers, newspaper, office paper, scrap metal, storage batteries and waste oil, with mixed paper and plastic containers added afterward and the Recycling Administrator empowered to add or delete categories unless doing so would conflict with State law.

Section 8A-3 supplies technical definitions for each category, down to distinguishing PET (number 1) from HDPE (number 2) plastic containers. The Administrator, housed in the Department of Public Works under Section 8A-16, develops and enforces the Program's regulations, sets fees authorized by state law and reports to the Representative Town Meeting on grant funding. Chapter 8A also regulates the collection side: Section 8A-8 requires the Town to arrange curbside pickup of designated residential recyclables, while owners of business and commercial buildings, including apartment buildings of more than four units, must separately arrange their own recyclable collection.