MAP: How Much of Your Town's Trash Gets Recycled

In the run up to Earth Day on April 22, Patch is looking at the numbers behind Connecticut’s environmental impact, including how much garbage we produce and how much of that waste is wasted.

The interactive map above shows information on municipal solid waste and compost for each town in the state in 2011, color-coded by how much solid waste (not including compost) was ultimately recycled.

[Red: 0-15 percent; Blue: 15-30 percent; Yellow: 30-45 percent; Green: 45-60 percent]

Three towns recycled more than 50 percent of garbage taken in — Middlebury (52.6 percent), New Canaan (51.2 percent) and Westbrook (50.7 percent)— with many more achieving better than 40 percent.

There were also three towns to recycle less than 10 percent — Ridgefield (9.8 percent), Lisbon (8.2 percent) and Ansonia (6.6 percent) — and several that did not report.

All Connecticut municipalities reported the total solid waste collected, however a number of towns failed to include breakdowns and information on recycling.

The 10 towns that did not report by August 2013 or filed incomplete information are in violation of state statute, according to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which maintains these records.

There was also an issue with the data reported from Ansonia for bottles, cans and paper, however the remaining information was supplied.

Use the map above to compare towns and see which generated the most and least trash per person here.