Middlebury, Connecticut Transfer Station Guide

States & Cities › Connecticut › Middlebury

Middlebury transfer station: hours, permits and household waste rules.

The Middlebury transfer station at 1 Service Road is where Middlebury, Connecticut residents take household trash and recycling. The town has no curbside pickup, so you haul it yourself or hire a private hauler. It is open Tuesday to Friday 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and trash and recycling are free. What trips people up: every vehicle needs a current permit sticker, and anything with a fee stops at the scale first.

• Who collects: no one at the curb; Middlebury residents haul their own household trash and recycling to the Middlebury Transfer Station, run by the town’s Public Works Department at 1 Service Road. Commercial waste is refused
• Hours: Tuesday to Friday 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., Saturday 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.; closed Sunday, Monday and Connecticut holidays
• Permit: free windshield sticker at the scale house; Permit Requirements ↗
• Holiday changes: closed on state holidays and the day after Thanksgiving; 2026 hours and holiday schedule ↗
• Contact: transfer station 203-758-1616; Public Works 203-577-4170, Monday to Friday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Official website: Town of Middlebury: Transfer Station ↗

Photo: Town Hall in Middlebury, Connecticut. Jerry Dougherty, 2013-11-11. CC BY 2.5 · Source. Resized for web.

Middlebury transfer station hours and permits

The station is for Middlebury residents only, and commercial waste is not accepted. It is open Tuesday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m., and closed Sundays, Mondays and Connecticut holidays.

• Permit sticker: every vehicle entering must show a current sticker. It is free at the scale house at the entrance: bring a valid Connecticut driver’s license with a Middlebury address and the vehicle registration naming Middlebury as the tax town. Put it in a corner of the windshield or behind the rearview mirror.
• Permit year: permits last one year, July 1 to June 30. The town does not issue one to a resident who owes it overdue taxes, sewer payments or fees, and can revoke one for the same reason.
• New residents: until your registration moves to Middlebury, stop at the scale on every visit and show a mortgage statement, tax bill or utility bill.
• Out-of-state plates and company cars: a vehicle registered in another state needs a special permit (for residents of two states) or a 90-day temporary permit (for new residents) from the Tax Collector at Town Hall, 1212 Whittemore Road. A company vehicle needs an authorization letter from the company, verified by Public Works.
• Inside the gate: with a current permit and only trash and recyclables, drive straight to the drop-off on the top level. With anything that carries a fee, stop at the scale first.

Ignoring the transfer station ordinance can cost you your station privileges. Illegal disposal of waste carries a $500 fine under Connecticut General Statutes section 22a-250, and other violations are $100 each.

Private haulers also work in town; each must file an annual report of its Middlebury activity with the town’s Municipal Recycling Agent. Looking for Middlebury, Vermont? That town is served by the Addison County Solid Waste Management District, whose transfer station at 1223 Route 7 South does not take bagged household trash or residential recycling.

What the transfer station takes and what it costs

Household trash, food waste and the town’s listed recyclables go free. Anything with a fee stops at the scale first.

Refused: commercial waste; paint; gasoline, pesticides, herbicides, chemicals and mercury products; containers that hold or once held hazardous material; medical and infectious waste and sharps; ammunition and other explosives; sealed containers; liquids or slurry of any kind; sewage and sludge; animal carcasses; radioactive material; masonry, bricks, blocks, boulders, rocks, stones, dirt and tree stumps; tree and shrub debris over 4 inches in diameter or 6 feet long; rims, tires over 22 inches and heavy truck or equipment tires; propane tanks over 20 pounds. Anything not on the town’s lists can be turned away.

Recycling at the transfer station

These recyclables go free, as the town lists them:

• Paper: cardboard, newspapers and inserts, magazines, junk mail, catalogs, white and colored paper, computer paper, shoe boxes and cereal boxes.
• Plastic: #1 and #2 containers under 3 gallons, with caps removed; #3 to #7 beverage and food containers up to 3 liters; large plastic items such as toys, recycling bins, coolers, baskets, containers and buckets.
• Metal, glass and cartons: aluminum, steel and tin cans, food trays and foil; glass food and beverage jars, bottles and jugs; milk and juice cartons and juice boxes.
• Also free: motor oil, home heating oil, transmission and hydraulic oil, cooking oil, diesel and kerosene (no gasoline); antifreeze; car, tractor and motorcycle batteries; clothing and textiles.

Recycling has been mandatory for every Connecticut household since 1991. The state list covers glass and metal food and beverage containers, #1 and #2 plastic containers of 3 gallons or less, newspapers, cardboard, boxboard, magazines, junk mail, scrap metal, used motor oil, lead-acid batteries, leaves and grass clippings. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) says plastic bags and film never go in single-stream recycling bins, at the curb or at a transfer station, because they jam sorting equipment; take clean, dry bags and film back to participating stores. For unusual items, the town points to DEEP’s What Do I Do With? guide ↗.

Bulky items, metal, electronics and mattresses

• Bulky waste and construction debris: weighed at the scale, $10 flat for a load up to 200 pounds, and 7 cents a pound for heavier loads. A sleeper sofa is charged by weight plus $50 for its mattress.
• Scrap metal and appliances: tin, white metal, steel, aluminum, brass, copper and items made mostly of metal go free. Refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and dehumidifiers hold Freon and cost $10 each.
• Electronics: free, including computers, monitors, printers, TVs, VCRs and DVDs, copiers, fax machines, game consoles, tablets and e-readers, keyboards and mice, stereo equipment, phones and cell phones, cameras, microwaves and other small appliances. Light bulbs, fluorescent lamps, ballasts and rechargeable batteries go free as universal waste. Connecticut law requires every town to give residents a free drop-off for TVs, computers, monitors and printers.
• Mattresses and box springs: Middlebury takes part in Connecticut’s mattress recycling program, which mattress makers run through the Mattress Recycling Council and fund with a fee charged when a new mattress is sold. Clean, dry mattresses and box springs, small ones included, go free into a storage container. Wet or stained ones do not qualify: the attendant can charge $50 each and send them out as bulky waste. The recycler can reject a whole load or fine the town for bad items, so every mattress is inspected.
• Tires: $5 or $10 each by size, up to 22 inches, without rims; no heavy truck or equipment tires.
• Gas cylinders: Public Works now offers a free disposal service for household propane, butane, isobutane, helium and MAPP torch cylinders through The Cylinder Collective. Small cylinders go in the collection container; stand large ones upright beside it. Not taken: industrial or commercial cylinders, fire extinguishers, lighters, vapes, or cylinders of acetylene, carbon dioxide, ethylene, hydrogen, nitrous oxide, oxygen, refrigerants or spray-foam insulation. The fee list still shows $3 for a 20-pound propane tank and $2 for a small helium tank, so ask at the scale.

Holiday closures

On top of its regular Sunday and Monday closures, the station closes on Connecticut holidays. Public Works posts the next closure on its department page, and the full year is in the 2026 hours and holiday schedule.

The schedule’s Veterans Day line still carries a 2024 date, so call the station at 203-758-1616 before a trip on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.

Hazardous waste

The station refuses paint, gasoline, pesticides, herbicides, chemicals, mercury products and containers that held hazardous material. For those, Middlebury is one of 15 towns in the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG) household hazardous waste region.

• When and where: collection events three times a year, rain or shine, at host sites around the region. NVCOG posts them on its hazardous waste calendar ↗, DEEP lists them in its HHW collection schedule ↗, and Middlebury posts the flyer in its News Flash ↗.
• Cost and eligibility: free for residents of member towns with proof of residency, such as a driver’s license or tax bill. Commercial waste is refused.
• Limits: 50 pounds of waste per resident unless arranged in advance; email your name, address and type of waste to hhw@nvcogct.gov by the Monday before the event. There is no limit on household paint.
• How it works: drive-through. Stay in your vehicle with the trunk open; staff unload it. Containers are not returned.
• Taken: household cleaners, drain and oven cleaners, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, pool chemicals, motor oil, gasoline, antifreeze and other car fluids, fluorescent bulbs, alkaline batteries, mercury thermometers, fire extinguishers, 1-pound gas cylinders, and paint, stains and varnishes.
• Not taken: car batteries, tires, empty containers, smoke detectors, ammunition, fireworks and other explosives, asbestos, medicines and syringes, gas cylinders over 1 pound, and e-cigarettes and vapes.

Between events, NVCOG points residents to PaintCare drop-off sites ↗ for leftover paint and says dried paint can go in the regular trash. Questions go to NVCOG at 203-757-0535 or to Middlebury’s recycling coordinator at Public Works, 203-577-4170.

Materials with their own rules

• Mattresses: clean, dry mattresses and box springs go free into Connecticut’s recycling program at the station; wet or stained ones can cost $50.
• Paint: refused at the station; take it to an NVCOG collection, with no limit on household paint, or a PaintCare drop-off site.
• Household hazardous waste: NVCOG regional collections, three a year, free with proof of residency.
• Lithium-ion batteries: rechargeable batteries go free at the station as universal waste.
• Tires: $5 up to 18 inches and $10 over 18 up to 22 inches, without rims.
• Aerosol cans and propane tanks: nothing over 20 pounds; household cylinders go to the free Cylinder Collective service.
• Pizza boxes
• Christmas trees

More in Connecticut

• Connecticut trash and recycling rules
• Holiday changes by city
• Bulk pickup rules by city
• Missed pickup contacts by city
• Drop-off locations by city