How Do I Get Rid of…

A Resident’s Guide to Using the Branford Recycling Center/Transfer Station

and other Disposal Tidbits

At the Branford Transfer Station, we take most things you might want to get rid of.  Always stop at the scale house on your way in, and if you’re not sure about something, ask!  To phone ahead with questions, call 483-8641

Click on the links for more detailed information.

Click here for a printable version.        

                                                       What We Do Not Take

Asbestos –  call East Shore Health, 481-4233 with questions; or Murdocks*, 483-8000 about disposal.

Car Batteries – take to any place in the state that sells them, or to HazWaste Central.

Construction/Demolition Debris – if more than a ton, get a dumpster.

Grass Clippings – We can’t take.  Leave them on the lawn or mix into your home compost pile.

Latex Paint, Liquid – use it up or dry it out, then see Paint Cans, below.

Oil-Based Paint or Stain, Liquid – take to HazWaste Central. 

Pesticides – take to HazWaste Central.

Propane tanks – Take to Leetes Island Fuel / Sunoco* (was Berkshire Petroleum) on Leetes Island Road for $3.  

Take little camp stove-sized to HazWaste Central.

Stumps, Large Tree Sections, Brush if more than 1 ton – have ground up or chipped in place; get dumpster; use for firewood; or leave as free firewood for others if appropriate. See flyer for choices as “landscape debris”.

HazWaste Central takes household hazardous waste Saturdays from 9 - noon from mid-May through the end of October (except holidays), located at Regional Water Authority, Long Wharf, phone 401-2712.

Legal at the Transfer Station, but There’s a Better Way

Books – take to Volunteer Services Center for Friends of Blackstone Library Book Sale, Fri & Sat 9 to noon, or un-staffed drop box.  Call 488-1441 for more info.  Or place in the Got Books? drop box at the transfer station.

Clothing & textiles, useable – donate to drop boxes around town; Good Will trailer by exit 53, 777-2000,

8-12:00 & 12:30-3:45 daily;  Clothing Bank 482-2634; thrift stores; consignment shops.  Most take bedding, towels, shoes, drapes, etc.

Clothing, Rags – if clean and dry (stains or rips don’t matter) Good Will & most clothing drops accept.  They get used as wiping rags or shredded into fiber for industry (example: padding behind dashboards).

Egg Cartons-Save them up and take them to Medlyn Farms* at 710 Leetes Island Rd. in Stony Creek.  Call 488-3578 for more information.

Furniture – contact Home DuJour*, 488-9470, 250 East Main St. for consignment opportunities.  If not in good condition, take to the Transfer Station: metal goes with scrap Metal, including frame of sofa beds. Wood, stuffed, or plastic goes with Burnable Rubbish on the floor in bay 5 or 6 as directed.  Never put over the edge.

Grocery Bags, Plastic – Reuse for shopping or as garbage bags; donate to Food Council, thrift stores, or libraries. Never use to bundle newspaper, even when raining.  Never use to bundle bottles and cans for recycling.

Grocery bags, Paper – Reuse to bundle newspaper and magazines; bring back to the store for your next batch of groceries; give to neighbors who need extra; take to Branford Food Council, 481-3663; recycle with the large cardboard.

Junk – (but surely someone would want it!) have a tag sale (put signs on stakes, not trees or utility poles!); donate to thrift stores; via your computer check out FreecycleNewHaven@YahooGroups.com to offer for free.

Leaves – mow them, rake into the woods only with the owner’s permission, compost them at home, put out in paper leaf bags for seasonal collection (see schedule on fall mailing), or take to the transfer station at any time of year for us to compost.  Free compost available – bring your own container.

Styrofoam Peanuts – phone Peanut Hotline, 1-800-828-2214 for list of local mailing places that accept.

Yard Waste – see also Grass, Leaves, or Brush. 1) Best choice for weeds, dead plants, small trimmings, crab apples, pine cones or other garden debris is to compost them at home; 2) Rent a chipper/shredder for twigs & small brush, then use as mulch; 3) Take to transfer station, see attendant, and dump out of your container as directed; or 4) Put yard waste other

than grass or leaves out with your garbage.  Use plastic bags, place loose in a

barrel, or tie 3-foot bundles with string.  Limit 3 per collection.

Take to the Recycling Center/Transfer Station; Sort Before You Load

Appliances: Air Conditions, Dehumidifier, Freezer, Refrigerator – for appliances with a cooling element, don’t cut the lines; do remove doors from large appliances.  Put by the brown building in the back and we will have the Freon drained out before recycling.

Appliances:  Dryer, Stove, Washing Machine, etc. – put in the metal enclosure in the front parking lot.

Appliances:  small, no circuit boards – see attendant.  With metal or with garbage, depending on item.

Brush – only put in the woods if they are your woods.  Under 10 inch diameter, put on brush pad at the back of the site to be chipped.  No brush on chipping days.  Help yourself to free wood chip mulch.

Christmas Trees – put with brush for chipping.  We do not collect, but Scouts do as fund-raiser.

Computers, TV’s, Consumer Electronics – recycle at the transfer station in shed by scale house.  They contain an average of 4 pounds of lead in the glass, possible mercury switches, and heavy metals, especially in circuit boards or batteries.  We were the first in the state with this program.

Demolition Materials & things that don’t/shouldn't burn (roofing, tile, broken dishes, wallboard) – One ton limit.  Put over chain into the container in bay 4.  Keep burnable items separate to go with Garbage!  Must fit easily into container.

Fluorescent Light Bulbs – are hazardous because of mercury.  We recycle in bay 1, or take to HazWaste.

Garbage and burnable rubbish – put on the floor in bay 5 or 6 as directed.  Never put over the edge.  Burnable lumber must be less than 6 inch diameter and crushable to 4 ft. lengths or less.

Metal – aluminum screens, lawn mowers, (fluids drained), nuts & bolts, tools, etc., in the metal enclosure in front parking lot.  Don’t put computers, appliances with Freon, or electronics with circuit boards here.

Oil, Motor – Sign waver with Attendant.  If mixed with other fluids (don’t mix!) take to HazWaste Central.

Paint Cans – empty cans go with metal, dried up paint goes with garbage.

Tires – put to left of enclosure for metal near scale house.  Limit 4.

Office Paper –good quality photocopy paper, computer paper, or letterhead.  No newspapers, no magazines.  In green Totes in bay 1.

If It Can Go in Your Blue Box…It Can Go to the Transfer Station!

Items that are accepted at the curb in your blue recycling box can also be brought to the transfer station.  These items include

- newspapers, phone books, & magazines/catalogs;

- corrugated cardboard; and

- glass bottles/jars, metal food cans, milk/juice cartons, & cloudy, #2 plastic milk jugs.

747 East Main Street, (Route 1) on the right almost a mile past Leetes Island Road.

Branford Resident Sticker Required.

Open 7:15 A.M. - 1:30 P.M. Mon – Fri /  7:15 A.M. - 2:30 P.M. Saturdays.

Please arrive at least ½ an hour before closing time.

Phone 315-0622 for more information.  Or visit www.Branford-CT.gov

* listing a private company does not constitute an endorsement by the Town of Branford

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