Thomas Breen photo
Ayapantecatl, Leon, and Zurita: Taking out the trash, for a cause.
John S. Martinez School “eco-warriors” Christian Ayapantecatl, Anthony Leon, and Giovanni Zurita walked up James Street’s tree belt, using long plastic “pickers” to grab pieces of paper, plastic, and chicken wing bones before throwing them into a large black trash bag.
They then walked over to stand alongside the mayor, four alders, and two dozen fellow students, city workers, and Fair Haven leaders to talk about a new collaborative effort to keep the neighborhood — and New Haven — clean.
That crowded and buoyant press conference took place Wednesday morning on the front lawn of DISTRICT, the co-working space and tech business hub at 470 James St.
Mayor Justin Elicker — flanked by the Martinez students and four alders whose districts include parts of Fair Haven, including Sarah Miller, Frank Redente Jr., Caroline Tanbee Smith, and Anna Festa — announced the kickoff of a new neighborhood cleanup campaign called “Fair Haven. Clean Haven. Great Haven.”
He also described updates to the bulk trash dropoff system at the city’s “transfer station” — aka, dump — designed to make it easier to properly dispose of mattresses and tires and furniture and other large items all too often ditched on the curb.
The community cleanup effort was spearheaded by the Fair Haven alders and students and neighborhood leaders like Lee Cruz, who were present at Wednesday’s press conference. Elicker praised the work of city staffers with the Livable City Initative, public works, and police who work to clean up, deter, and crack down on illegal dumping.
“Let’s be real: Fair Haven is disproportionately impacted” by the illegal dumping of bulk trash, he continued.
He said there are around 15 illegal dumping spots in the neighborhood, and that 90 percent of the upwards of 500 discarded tires found throughout the city last year were in Fair Haven. He also said city workers picked up in 2024 a total of 3,000 pounds of illegally discarded bulk trash, including seven boats, two motorhomes, and a camping trailer. “It’s ridiculous.”
Many Fair Haveners are unsure how to properly dispose of mattresses and other bulk trash, Redente said. Thus the importance of the current public information campaign — replete with lawn signs and QR codes that link to a website about the Fair Haven cleanup initiative and about how to use the city’s transfer station.
Lee Cruz thanked the neighborhood’s largest employers, Fair Haven Community Health Care and Mary Wade Home, for sending representatives to Wednesday’s press conference and for supporting the cleanup effort. Other local business people who have shown support include David Salinas, who co-founded DISTRICT and whose design firm Digital Surgeons helped create the “Fair Haven. Clean Haven” lawn signs, as well as Jonathan Perlich of the Quinnipiac River Marina.
“We all deserve to live in a clean city free of bulk trash and illegal dumping in our neighborhoods,” said Fair Haven’s Edwin Martinez.
Geovanelys Morales, a seventh grader at John S. Martinez School and a member of the school’s Eco-Warriors Student Council Committee, agreed. “In my experience, I see litter everywhere,” she said — in the school’s parking lot, athletic field, and sidewalks. She urged all community members, adults and students alike, to dispose of trash properly and not just throw it outside.
And what exactly is changing about bulk trash dropoff at the transfer station?
New Haven Solid Waste & Recycling Authority Deputy Director Kathy O’Brien said that New Haven residents no longer need to pick up coupons in advance before coming to the transfer station, located at 260 Middletown Ave., to drop off bulk trash. Instead, city residents can just show up, with an ID, and dispose of eligible bulk trash then and there. New Haveners get eight free bulk trash dropoffs per year; after that, you have to pay.
O’Brien said that eligible bulk trash includes mattresses, furniture, clothing, tires, and electronics. The transfer station does not accept liquids or lithium batteries. It’s open from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
Anyone interested in picking up a “Fair Haven. Clean Haven” lawn sign of their own can do so at Chatham Place at Mary Wade at 138 Clinton Ave. from Friday, March 7 through Friday, March 21, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., every day of the week.
A full house, outdoors, at Wednesday's presser.
Geovanelys Morales: "In my experience, I see litter everywhere."
Alders Redente and Smith.
Let's pick!