Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority facts for kids
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| Formation | 1973 |
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| Legal status | Reorganized 2014 |
| Headquarters | 200 Corporate Place, Suite 202, Rocky Hill, CT 06067 |
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Region served
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Connecticut, USA |
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President
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Thomas D. Kirk |
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Budget
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$5,711,200 (FY 2011) |
| Website | ctmira.org |
The Materials Innovation and Recycling Authority, also known as MIRA, is an organization that helps cities and towns in Connecticut manage their trash and recycling. It used to be called the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA) until 2014. MIRA works like a public agency but also has some private business aspects. It helps towns with single-stream recycling and trash disposal. MIRA owns a special plant in Hartford that turns trash into energy. It also helps manage another plant in Preston and helped build others in Bridgeport and Wallingford.
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Recycling Resources: Saving Energy and Nature
MIRA has special places called recovery facilities. These facilities sort and prepare recycled materials. They handle post-consumer waste, which is trash that people have already used. They use a method called single-stream recycling. This means you can put all your recyclables, like paper, plastic, and metal, into one bin. Machines and people then sort these items.
Recycling helps us save energy and natural resources. Making new products from recycled materials often uses much less energy than making them from scratch. For example, recycling one ton of aluminum cans saves a lot of energy. This is enough energy to power many homes!
Recycling also protects our planet's natural resources. Did you know that about 20 trees are needed to make one ton of new paper? Americans use a lot of paper each year. By recycling paper, we can save many trees.
Not everything can be recycled. For the trash that's left, experts prefer sending it to a trash-to-energy plant. This is better than a landfill. Landfills are places where trash is buried. They can pollute the soil, water, and air. They also create a gas called methane, which is bad for the environment.
Trash-to-Energy: Turning Waste into Power
In the United States, most trash still goes to landfills. Only a small part is turned into energy. In some European countries, much more trash is recycled or used to make energy.
Trash-to-energy plants work by burning trash. The heat from burning boils water, creating steam. This steam then spins large machines called turbines. The spinning turbines create electricity. This electricity is then sold to power homes and businesses.
In the early 1990s, new rules were made to make trash-burning plants cleaner. Because of these rules, many older plants closed. However, the plants that remained became much better for the environment. Connecticut has several of these modern facilities. The state decided to use trash-to-energy plants to reduce the need for landfills. This helps manage Connecticut's waste in an environmentally friendly way.
In 1973, the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA) was created. This was done under the leadership of Governor Thomas J. Meskill. Bridgeport was chosen for the first big trash-to-energy project. Connecticut is working towards a future with no active landfills for regular trash. A large landfill in Windsor is expected to close soon.
Learning About Recycling and Waste
MIRA used to offer educational programs for kids and adults. These programs helped people learn about recycling and how trash can be turned into energy. They even had a special place called the CRRA Trash Museum in Hartford. This museum closed in 2016.
The educational programs included visits to schools and tours for scout groups. They also had displays at public events. Teachers could even get special kits to help them teach about recycling. MIRA received awards for its excellent public education efforts.
The Trash Museum
The Mid-Connecticut Project Trash Museum opened in 1995. It was located in Hartford, Connecticut. This museum was a large space with exhibits about recycling, trash-to-energy, and landfills. One cool feature was a sculpture made from recycled garbage. It was called the "temple of trash." Visitors could also watch live recycling operations on TV screens. The Trash Museum closed permanently in 2016.
The Garbage Museum
The Garbage Museum opened in 1993 in Stratford, Connecticut. Its most famous exhibit was the "Trash-O-Saurus." This was a dinosaur made entirely from discarded items. It showed how much trash one person creates in a year.
The museum also had a walkway above the recycling center. From here, visitors could watch trucks dump their loads. They could see how glass, plastic, metal, and paper were sorted and prepared for recycling. The museum had many hands-on activities. For example, there was a scavenger hunt to find items on the Trash-O-Saurus. There was also a game show where you might get showered with recyclables if you answered wrong!
The Garbage Museum closed in August 2011. It was funded by money made from selling recycled materials. When the economy slowed down and prices for recyclables dropped, the museum could no longer afford to stay open.
Images for kids
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Can recycling at a similar facility
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Logo for the Trash Museum in Hartford, CT
