Monroe Shifting to New Recycling System, Bigger Bins in May

Monroe residents will be getting new recycling bins next week as the town’s haulers prepare to move to a single-stream recycling system.

New 96-gallon bins (more than six times the size of the current 15-gallon bins) will be passed out, one per household, starting May 12. Bins will be distributed along the biweekly recycling pickup schedule.

Residents can find the pickup day and week for their road (including a few changes) on the interactive map above or on the special Monroe Recycling website set up by the town’s contracted haulers, Residential Waste Systems (RWS).

“Recycling in Monroe is fairly low” compared to other towns RWS hauls in, company manager J.R. Bria said, though moving to single-stream and giving people bigger bins has proven effective in increasing that.

According to Bria, the ability to put all recyclables in the same bin (and fit them all in there) has increased participation in some communities by as much as 45 percent. It has also reduced the amount of recyclables found in the waste stream by as much as 15 percent.

“This has worked great in Trumbull and Shelton just switched over,” Bria said.

Monroe resident could start seeing new bins in their driveways as early as Monday. The new recycling system goes into effect May 19.

RWS is encouraging residents to reach out with questions, either on the live chat on their website, by email at info@residentialwastesystems.com or by phone at 203-334-1660.