Woodbridge Hopes to Keep Garbage Museum Open

The CRRA Garbage Museum's education supervisor is hopeful that in the next couple days, businesses, municipalities and private citizens will rev up donations and pledges to keep the 16-year-old Stratford museum from closing on July 1.

Sotoria Montanari said Tuesday that $52,000 has been raised in commitments for the museum, which adjoins a recycling center that serves 10 towns and processes about 30,000 tons of recyclables a year. Milford pledged a maximum of $26,500 on Monday night. Woodbridge has also pledged to contribute to the museum.

The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority (CRRA) owns the museum, and said if $60,000 to $100,000 is not raised before July 1, the museum could be closed, said Montanari. 

“The decision to shut down must be made by the board of directors,” she said, adding that nothing has been put to a vote just yet.

The Garbage Museum, which is supported by revenues from the recycling center’s sales, lost about $200,000 in funding in 2009 when long-term contracts to sell the Stratford facility's recyclables ended, said Montanari.

“We get 31,000 visitors a year,” said Anna MacDonald, a part-time educator at the museum.

“We’re hopeful that some of the towns will come through,” Montanari said.

See the video attached to this article to learn more about what the Garbage Museum has to offer.

Contributions to the museum are tax-deductible by means of an IRS ruling. Click here if you are interested in making a donation.