For those who are unfamiliar with the New Fairfield Drop Off Center, located at 33 Bigelow Road, it is a safe, convenient, low-cost facility to get rid of trash, brush, and items you no longer want or use. To use the Drop Off Center, apply for a disposal permit from the New Fairfield Department of Health, either online or in person at Town H
all. With a permit, some items can be disposed of free of charge, but most items carry a small charge, paid at the time of disposal. For example, a 13 gallon bag of household waste can be disposed of for $1.50/bag and a 30 gallon bag for $3.00. To encourage recycling, the charge for a 13 gallon bag contained recyclable material is $1.00/bag with a 30 gallon
bag costing $2.00. Recycling is done on a single stream basis, meaning you can mix paper, plastics, metals, cardboard, etc. together in a single bag. Other items accepted at the DOC include mattresses, electronics, florescent bulbs, tires, empty propane tanks, brush, old appliances used motor oil and demolition material
s. A full list of the types of materials the Drop Off Center will take – and the charges for them — is available on the town website (Newfairfield.org->Center of front page under News and Ev
ents).

With a permit from the Town, New Fairfield residents can also pick up wood chips (created from the brush accepted at the Center) and a sand and salt mixture (no more than 2 five-gallon buckets at a time) for use on
your property in the winter. The Drop Off Center also has an organics recycling program, which it runs in conjunction with The Housatonic Resources Recovery Authority. You can sign up at the Drop Off Center and pick up the bucket there to store your food scraps. Cost to participate is $1 per bucket disposed at the Drop Off Center. The food scraps are sent offsite and turned into mulch. Participation in the program entitles you to free mulch once a year from the Drop Off Center – one of the best kinds of mulch to use on a vegetable garden. Further information on this program is also available through
the link on the front page of the town website.

We are currently looking for ways to encourage more residents to use the Drop Off Center, and have posted a brief survey on the Town Website (www.newfairfield.org) and Facebook Page. We will also have hard copies of the survey availa
ble in the Selectmen’s Office in Town Hall for you to complete.   Our goal is to make the Drop Off Center more convenient for our residents, and we appreciate your input!

Currently, the DOC is open from 8:00AM – 3:45 Saturdays and Tuesdays and on Thursdays fr
om 4:00 – 7:00 PM. For more information, the phone number at the DOC is 203-312-5677.

– Pat Del Monaco, First Selectman