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

Section 94.42(A) establishes Hamden's mandatory recyclables-separation program specifically to comply with the Connecticut General Statutes, which require municipalities to run curbside recycling. Subsection (C)(1) lists the required categories in detail: glass food and beverage containers, metal food and beverage containers, newspapers, office paper, juice and milk cartons, plastic containers numbered 1 through 7, aluminum foil and trays, cardboard, grass clippings, leaves, storage batteries, scrap metal, waste oil, and electronics. The ordinance makes clear that placing any of these items into a container with ordinary solid waste is prohibited, with a narrow exception if contamination or some other inherent quality makes a specific item impossible to recycle.

Grass clippings are treated distinctly elsewhere in the section's definitions, which state they are banned from disposal outright and should be left on the lawn or composted rather than bagged at all. The Mayor designates a municipal agent to enforce the separation requirements and must supply the state Commissioner of Environmental Protection with a contact person for recycling questions, tying Hamden's local program directly to state oversight. Property owners with seven or more dwelling units carry an added duty under subsection (C)(8) to make provisions so their tenants can properly separate recyclables, extending the mandate beyond single-family households to larger residential buildings.