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

Article III of Chapter 305 created Ridgefield's mandatory recycling program on December 13, 1990, to implement the state's Public Act No. 90-220. Section 305-21 defines mandated recyclables as those items the Department of Environmental Protection, or the Board of Selectmen, has designated for required recycling, and the section lists them out: cardboard, glass food containers, metal food containers, newspapers, office paper, scrap metal, storage batteries and waste oil. Section 305-22(A) requires every person generating solid waste from residential property to separate those items from the rest of their trash beginning January 1, 1991, and requires other generators, businesses and institutions, to make provision for the same separation.

Section 305-22(B) then routes the separated material: collectors and transporters have to bring mandated recyclables to the Ridgefield recycling center on South Street or another facility that meets the state reporting requirements, recyclables cannot be taken to the Town solid waste facility instead, and a load of solid waste containing measurable recyclables gets rejected there. Specific handling rules follow for particular materials: glass and metal food containers have to be rinsed and free of contamination, though labels do not need to come off, and newspaper and corrugated cardboard both have to be bundled or bagged in loads no heavier than 50 pounds under § 305-22(D) and (E).

Multifamily property owners have their own duty under § 305-22(F): they have to educate tenants on recycling and provide clearly labeled, adequately sized containers at a convenient location for the building's recyclable collection.