Recycling centers in Essex

Calamari Recycling is a third-generation family scrap yard at 20 Town Dump Road in Essex, just off Route 9 between I-95 and I-91. It buys ferrous and non-ferrous metal from homeowners, contractors, manufacturers, aerospace suppliers, and municipalities, weighing every load on certified scales and paying by weight. The buy list covers bare bright, #1, and #2 copper, insulated wire, brass, aluminum siding and rims, stainless steel, lead, cast iron, heavy melt, and appliances, and unprepared steel is sheared on site. The yard opens Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Roll-off and load-lugger containers go out to job sites for construction and demolition debris and manufacturing scrap, and portable shears, cranes, and loaders handle large volumes on the yard or at the customer's site.

Essex residents drop off household garbage and recyclables at the town transfer station on Dump Road, run by the Public Works department. The gate is open Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., and attendants check a valid ID to confirm town residency before anything goes in. Garbage disposal requires a permit sticker or a pre-paid punch card good for ten bags. Punch cards are bought at the station by check, debit, or credit card only; no cash is taken. The town also runs separate programs for electronics, food scraps, textiles, and gas cylinders, and posts a household hazardous waste schedule and holiday hours each year.