CLYNK ‘drop bag’ recycling and redemption kicks off Connecticut operations in Bristol

By David Fortier and JoAnn Moran

City officials and executives from Stop & Shop and a recycling innovator establishing a unique bottle and can redemption platform at Stop & Shop on Farmington Avenue introduced the platform and had some fun using it on a cold but sunny afternoon, Tuesday, Jan. 14, at a press conference in the Stop & Shop parking lot.

“I call this an innovative disruptive process where everyone wants to take advantage of the 10 cent deposit,” said Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano, as he was preparing to use his CLYNK app, before the press conference announcing the initiative.

Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano receives instructions from CLYNK Director of Brand Delivery Dan Kiley, before scanning his information and adding his green bag of recyclables to the CLYNK drop box. | David Fortier

“A big point that I want to make as the mayor, here,” he added, “is what the people of Bristol don’t realize is that this is actually going to be a benefit for the city taxpayers, referring to how the city is charged by weight for the street-side recycling collection. “We are taking a lot of weight out of our cycle bins, and we are going to save money over time.”

He revisited those points at the conference which took place at 1 p.m. and included Stop & Shop Manage of Store Initiatives Paul Audette, CLYNK Brand Designer Dan Kiley and Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Environmental Analyst Laura Pointek.

*Members of the press, RecyclX, CLYNK and city officials gather on a cold January day for the grand opening of the CLYNK recycling facility in the parking lot at Stop & Shop. | David Fortier*

CLYNK, with its headquarters in Maine, has been operating with its bag drop program for 18 years. Its first location in Connecticut is here on Farmington Avenue. It has operations in Iowa, New York, Oregon and Maine.

At the end of the press conference, Caggiano was the first to scan his CLYNK App, the label on the CLYNK bag and toss the bag into the CLYNK collection station. Audette and Pointek followed, under the supervision of Kiley.

DEEP official Laura Pointek, Public Works director Ray Rogozinski, Public Works Analyst Lindsey Rivers, Mayor Jeffrey Caggiano and Economic and Community Development director Justin Malley jockey as they prepare for a group photo. | David Fortier

“Stop & Shop as a brand has one of the largest impacts on bottle and can redemption in the state of Connecticut,” Kiley said. “It has the highest number of locations across the state and it was a great partnership to work with them.”

Kiley said the green CLYNK station in the parking lot as having been constructed out of equivalent of 26,000 plastic bottles.

CLYNK’s Communication’s and Engagement Manager Renee Lassow demonstrates how the recycling program works. | JoAnn Moran

“It is made from recycled plastic content,” he said. “It is both solar and wind powered so it is completely off grid. And has a much smaller environmental impact than other types of redemption.”

The collection station, situated in the parking lot at the Farmington Avenue Stop & Shop, is visited every day or so by another local business, RecyclX, on Wooster Court, where the contains of the bags are counted and credited.

RecyclX began operating in Bristol this past fall. It partners with CLYNK as its sole redemption and process center in the state.

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