Farmington Highway and Grounds

The mission of the Highway and Grounds Department is the construction and maintenance of the town roadways, parks, and Westwoods Golf Course. These duties include seasonal maintenance such as plowing snow, leaf collection, and highway and park construction. This department also handles waste collection, recycling and tree maintenance.

For More Information on Highway & Grounds Department Updates, Click Here

General Office Information

Trash/Recyclable Pickups

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your normal trash and/or recyclables NOT BEING PICKED UP on your regularly scheduled day, please call Waste Material @ 675-9682.

Recycling

There are two curb-side recycling programs in the Town of Farmington that, between them both, provide service to most of Farmington's residents: The Town's collection program provided by Waste Material Trucking and CWPM Services' program. The Town's program provides service to most of the single family residences in town, while CWPM Services covers most of the multi-family residences that offer curb-side collection.

What Can I Recycle at the Curb?

1. Newspaper, Magazines, Junk Mail, Paperboard
   • Newspaper with Inserts
   • Magazines and Catalogs
   • Junk mail (any paper item that comes through the mail, including envelopes with windows)
   • Paperboard (such as cereal boxes, shoe boxes, pasta boxes, etc.). Remove inner bags, windows, etc.
   • Place all of the above together in a brown paper grocery bag and set out in or next to recycling bin
   • Do not use plastic bags
   • No Phonebooks, Soiled Newspaper, Soiled Magazines, or any other soiled material.
2. Glass Food & Beverage Containers
   • All types and colors of glass bottles & jars
   • Rinse clean
   • Throw out lids and caps
   • Labels are okay
   • Do not break
   • No Broken Glass, Mugs, Windowpanes, Ceramics, Light Bulbs, Mirrors, Dishes or Tempered Glass
3. Metal Food & Beverage Containers
   • Containers up to 3-gallon in size
   • Aluminum-foil products
   • Rinse clean
   • Labels are okay
   • Do not crush
   • No Propane Cyclinders, Pots & Pans, Paint Cans, Hardware or Pipes
4. Plastic Containers
   • Containers marked #1 PET or #2 HDPE up to 3-gallon or 11-liters in size
   • Rinse clean
   • Throw out lids and caps
   • Labels are okay
   • Do not crush
   • No Stryofoam, Plastic Bags, Motor oil or Antifreeze Containers
5. Milk and Juice Cartons
   • Paper Milk and Juice Cartons
   • Juice Boxes
   • Rinse clean
   • Throw out juice box straw
   • Throw out cap, plastic ring okay
   • Do not crush
   • No Ice Cream Containers
6. Corrugated Cardboard
   • Corrugated cardboard has 2 layers of heavy paper with ripples in between
   • Flatten and secure boxes
   • Do not tie or tape bundle
   • Cut if over 4 feet in length (CWPM customers cut if over 2 feet square)
   • Stack next to recycling bin
   • No Wax Coated Boxes, Soiled Boxes or Pizza Boxes

What Else Can I Recycle?

While curb-side recycling may be the most convenient way to recycle. It certainly isn't the only way. Below is a list of some locations where you can recycle items not accepted in your curb-side recycling program. Remember, these items can only be recycled at specially designated locations, and should not be included in your recycling bin

• Plastic and Paper Grocery Bags
  Plastic and Paper Grocery Bags can be returned to the Stop & Shop in Unionville. A collection container is located outside of the building near the entrance. Please only use this container for grocery bags. Other paper and plastic bags may be made from other, nonrecyclable, materials.
• Rechargable Nickel-Cadmium Batteries
  Nickel-Cadmium battery packs are commonly used in rechargable appliances, laptop computers and cellular phones. While these batteries are rechargable, they will eventually wear out. The worn battery can be taken to a local Radio Shack (West Farms Mall).

Dry Cleaning Bags and Hangers

The following table identifies businesses where you can recycle dry cleaning plastic bags and hangers.

Tunxis Mead Compost Area

Located at the end of Tunxis Mead Road, residents may bring brush and leaves to the compost area according to the following schedule :Effective Monday, March 24^th, 2008, the Compost Area is open the regular schedule of: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 7:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and on Saturdays, from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. Residents may bring brush and leaves to the compost area at no charge by showing their driver's license. Also allowed is clean lumber ONLY (no plywood, pressure-treated, stained or painted wood). This material is ground up to make bark mulch. Stumps and grass clippings are not allowed. If your brush is under six inches (6") in diameter, the length of the brush does not matter…however, if it is larger than six inches (6") in diameter you will need to stop by the Farmington Highway and Grounds Division office between the hours of: 8 a.m.-4p.m. to purchase residential tickets @ $8.50/per ticket, depending on the size of your load determines how many tickets you will need. Also, if your brush is larger than (>) 6" in diameter, it will need to be cut into two-foot (2') lengths before you bring it to the compost area. Residents can pick up leaf compost and bark mulch from the composting area at the end of Tunxis Mead Road. Landscapers and contractors are NOT allowed to pick up this material.

Household Hazardous Waste Disposal

Many common household products contain hazardous chemicals that with repeated or excessive contact may lead to lung problems, brain and nerve damage, cancer and even death. A product is considered hazardous if it’s:

• TOXIC - can injure or kill if swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin
• FLAMMABLE - may explode or ignite, even when cool
• CORROSIVE - can cause permanent tissue damage through contact
• REACTIVE - creates an explosion or produces deadly vapors

You can learn to avoid these chemicals by reading the labels. Those labeled Danger or Poison are typically the most hazardous. Others may be labeled Caution or Warning because they are skin or eye irritants. These signal words will be near a phrase that describes the nature of the hazard, such as “vapors harmful” or "extremely flammable”.

These products SHOULD NOT be thrown away in the regular trash. Farmington schedules an annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day that enables residents to bring unwanted household hazardous materials for collection and proper disposal by a licensed hazardous waste contractor. Farmington's 2008 Annual Hazardous Waste Disposal Day will be: Saturday, April 26th from 8 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Farmington High School. Please see the Farmington Town Letter for additional information. Additionally, since the Town contracts for this service through the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), residents can also attend any other MDC collection day scheduled between April and November.

To see this year’s collection schedule go to: www.themdc.com/hazwasteschedule.htm

Click Here to view or download (right click) a helpful brochure that identifies what materials can be brought to a collection, what happens to collected wastes, identifies less hazardous alternatives, and gives disposal alternatives for wastes that are not accepted at the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Days.

For more information call (860)278-3809

Other Companies Licensed to Dispose of Other Materials

Fees are charged and subject to change…Please call the following companies for:

• appliances, scrap metal, air conditioners:
  J.W.Green @ 747-5514
• grass clippings:
  Green Cycle of the Northeast @ 674-8855
• mattresses, furniture, and construction debris:
  CWPM @ 829-0714

A State D.E.P. law prohibits Connecticut's solid waste and resource recovery facilities and the compost area from accepting grass clippings. This means grass clippings cannot be collected at the curb or brought to the compost area. What can residents do? You can leave clippings on your lawn or compost them at home with other household vegetable or yard waste. For a fee, grass clippings can be brought to GreenCycle of the Northeast, 232 Colt Highway, Route 6, Farmington, CT or you may contact Chris Field at 860-674-8855, ext. 304 or fax @ 860-677-0067; email: cfield@greencycle.net or on the web at www.greencycle.net.