About Us

The Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District (CVSWMD) is leading our communities to reduce waste! As a union municipality, we provide valuable waste management programs and services to our 19 member cities and towns to assist them in proper waste disposal and reduction efforts. The CVSWMD serves Barre City, Barre Town, Berlin, Bradford, Calais, Chelsea, Duxbury, East Montpelier, Fairlee, Hardwick, Middlesex, Montpelier, Orange, Plainfield, Tunbridge, Walden, Washington, Williamstown, and Woodbury. 
In 1987, the Vermont Legislature passed Act 78, the state’s first solid waste law, to help reduce and manage waste in the state. Act 78 created solid waste districts throughout the state. Solid waste districts in Vermont are union municipalities that design regional solutions to the solid waste challenges faced by their member towns. CVSWMD was Chartered in 1987 to provide for disposal of solid waste generated by its member towns and cities. CVSWMD implements a Solid Waste Implementation Plan (SWIP) and meets other state requirements that towns and cities would otherwise have to provide for on their own. 
CVSWMD represents the overall interests of our members towns through our Board of Supervisors, which consists of a city/town appointed representative.  We are frequently involved in state level solid waste policy planning and implementation.  CVSWMD licenses private haulers to provide waste hauling services and drop-off locations for residents and businesses. We provide award-winning outreach and school programming, and operate the Additional Recyclables Collection Center to creatively manage the region’s difficult-to-recycle items. We strive to provide ambitious programming and services that will make our district a leader in Vermont when it comes to sustainable waste management and waste reduction. 
Together with the community, we're building a beautiful, healthy and low-waste central Vermont!

Our Mission
Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District provides education, advocacy, and services for residents and businesses in reducing and managing their solid waste in order to protect public health and the environment.

Zero Waste

The CVSWMD is working to end waste for good. Zero waste seeks to eliminate as much landfill waste as possible, both through individual efforts and the systems that produce and recycle materials. This can be achieved through eliminating unnecessary single-use materials, maximizing the recovery and reuse of recyclable materials, and returning organic materials back to nature. It's in the journey to zero waste that efficiencies are created, business is generated, jobs are created, and communities are bound together toward a common outcome: to preserve our natural environment and create a sustainable future for everyone!
 
We look forward to helping Central Vermont in our journey towards zero waste! 

The Plan


Vermont law requires that all municipalities develop a solid waste implementation plan that is in conformance with both the State’s solid waste management plan (Vermont Materials Management Plan) and any regional plan. This 2020 Solid Waste Implementation Plan (SWIP) serves to meet the requirements established by Vermont Agency of Natural Resources for all CVSWMD member communities for the five-year period January 1, 2021 – December 31, 2025. The CVSWMD 2020 SWIP was adopted by the Board of Supervisors November 4th, 2020. 
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CVSWMD Solid Waste Implementation Plan

CVSWMD Solid Waste Management Ordinance

On June 1, 2016, the CVSWMD Board adopted the CVSWMD Solid Waste Management Ordinance, which consolidates four previous CVSWMD ordinances into one unified ordinance. It went into effect on August 1, 2016. Read the full ordinance here. 

​CVSWMD Charter

The CVSWMD Charter describes the creation, purpose, and organization of the Central Vermont solid Waste Management District.