Dumping large amounts of trash at Hamden Transfer Station will no longer be free

The town of Hamden will be implementing new fees for residents to use the local transfer station for large amounts of solid waste and compost in the coming months, Mayor Lauren Garrett told HQNN. 

The Hamden Transfer Station is a resource for town residents that accepts various solid municipal waste and compost for recycling and disposal. The types of materials the station receives include mattresses, light bulbs, batteries and electronics, leaves, large logs and other bulk trash or compost. 

Disposal for 40 pounds or less of solid waste will still be free at the station. Waste between 40 and 200 pounds will be 6 cents per pound. Over 200 pounds of waste will be charged at 10 cents per pound.

“If somebody comes to the station with 100 pounds (of waste), the first 40 pounds being free, then you’re just paying six cents on 60 pounds,” Garrett said. “So we’re talking about $3.60. It’s not a huge amount.”

Residents who come to use the transfer station need to have a valid form of identification proving that they are a Hamden resident. This current model will not change once the fee is in place.

The existing policy has allowed non-Hamden residents to use the station by having a resident as a passenger, leading to “abuse” of the station, Garrett said.

“Companies that will clean out a house or a building will fill up a U-Haul, bring it over to the transfer station,” Garrett said. “So, our taxpayers are paying for people to abuse the transfer station. What we’re trying to do is collect a fee from people who are using our transfer station when they should get a dumpster.”

Solid waste brought in is first held at the transfer station before being distributed to dumps outside of the area. Hamden does not have a dump, and instead has the transfer station to act as a holding center for the town’s solid waste, Garrett said.

“We have a carrier that takes it away to go to an actual dump,” Garrett said. “We also compost our organics (at the transfer station).”

However, the proposed fee does not cover the total operating costs of the transfer station. Joe DeRisi, solid waste and recycling coordinator of the Hamden Transfer Station, said the town pays tipping fees, or a fee for dumping waste, to dispose of trash in dumps.

 “To dispose of trash or to recycle, the facilities that take those materials in charge a fee per ton,” DeRisi said. “That’s how they cover their costs for processing.”

Garrett said tipping fees have cost the town $2.15 million in 2022. These fees include costs for the transfer station, as well as bulk and curbside pickup. It excludes composting costs. 

Garrett also told HQNN that a transfer station employee calculated that charging 26 cents per pound of waste would cover the amount of money needed to run the station. 

Hamden looked to transfer stations in surrounding towns when deciding on fee amounts, according to a press release from Garrett’s office.

Garrett said town officials wanted prices to be on the “low end of the spectrum” for the disposal of less than 200 pounds of waste to lessen the strain for residents.

“For the heavier use, where it’s obviously a pretty large clean-out, we wanted to be at the higher end of the spectrum,” Garrett said. “So, we’re still within what area municipalities charge, it’s just that we’re trying to make it so that it’s not overly burdensome for our residents.”

The fee is not in place yet, as DeRisi said there is still legislative work to be done. Garrett said it will be implemented in the coming months. 

The fees will contribute to the transfer station’s revenue, but will not fully cover the cost of the facility’s operations. With outside businesses contributing large amounts of waste, Garrett said town residents are paying the price in taxes through the current policy.

“What we want is to charge people who are abusing the transfer station so that this isn’t something they get for free,” Garrett said. “When it comes to what a resident might bring in the back of their car or a small pickup truck, we’re talking about $5 – it’s a cup of coffee.”