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Curbside clothes recycling coming to Hartford in October

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Hartford will begin offering curbside recycling this month for clothing, accessories and kitchenware through a new partnership with Simple Recycling.

The Ohio-based company’s colorful plastic bags are already ubiquitous in more than 20 cities and towns across Connecticut, including neighboring communities to the capital city, like East Hartford, West Hartford, Wethersfield, Newington and Manchester. The service, free to residents and municipalities, first came to Connecticut in 2017 when Simple Recycling opened a plant in New Britain, where it sorts the textiles and home goods based on condition and worth.

Hartford residents will receive three pink plastic bags in the mail this month in time for the first scheduled pickups the week of Oct. 21.

Residents may use the program to dispose of clothing, coats and jackets, accessories like jewelry, shoes, purses and hats and the following household items: toys, blankets, curtains, pillows, sleeping bags, tools, silverware, dishes, pots and pans and backpacks.

Participants do not have to schedule their pickups, like Hartford residents must do for curbside collection of bulky waste.

Residents should place their bags at the curb on their scheduled trash collection day, and the city’s sanitation workers will use a digital system to track which homes need to be visited by Simple Recycling.

The company will then collect all of the bags by the end of the day.

If the bags get opened up and items are scattered by people or animals, Simple Recycling will also pick those up, according to Walter Veselka, Hartford’s director of public works.

Simple Recycling will also leave a new plastic bag when they make a pickup, and additional bags will be available at the Department of Public Works, at 50 Jennings Road.

Rebecca Lurye can be reached at rlurye@courant.com.