DEP Announces Recycling Grants – Must Fix Recycling Program

Today, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection is awarding $19.4 million in annual Clean Communities grants. The money will help municipalities and counties remove litter, improve water quality, and enhance the quality of life. $17.3 million is being awarded to eligible municipalities and $2.1 million to the state’s 21 counties.

“The more we can recycle the less garbage will be going into landfills and incinerators. It’s good that money is going out for recycling, but each year a couple million gets raided. New Jersey needs to do more to encourage recycling. Our recycling program is garbage. In the early 1990s we recycled over 50% of municipal and household waste and now we are down to 37%. We have to come up with a comprehensive plan to address solid waste and garbage. We need long-term funding to help increase and streamline recycling across New Jersey,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Grants are okay, but the Murphy Administration must do more to clean up New Jersey’s garbage and litter problem.”

The Murphy administration and the legislature can take several steps to reduce waste and prevent recycling rates from dropping even more. Bill S864 (Smith/Greenstein) calls for a comprehensive ban on single-use plastics like plastic bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene. Passing a bottle bill would also be an important step to reducing garbage.

“Every year we seem to be recycling less. We need to focus more on the 3 Rs of Recycling – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. To reduce our plastic use, we need our legislature and the Governor to support legislation like S864 (Smith/Greenstein). The bill bans single-use plastics, including plastic bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene. We also need our legislature to create a bottle bill. New Jersey only recycles 50% of cans and bottles while Michigan, which has a bottle bill, recycles 97%,” said Tittel. “During the pandemic, our single-use plastic waste has gone up. We need to start replacing these products with recyclable or biodegradable items.”

New Jersey was the first state to make recycling mandatory in 1987. Our state also reached a recycling rate of 63 percent in 2015. The DEP also promotes that New Jersey has been a leader in recycling for more than 30 years.

“As recycling declines, trash piles up. Plastic bags are clogging storm drains and filling up detention basins, damaging our water quality. Every year we pick up millions of pounds of cans, bottles, and other trash along our roadways. We must update and strengthen our recycling to reduce all of that garbage. Recycling less means more greenhouse gases and pollution from landfills and manufacturing new products,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “The Murphy Administration must overhaul our recycling program quickly or else they will turn New Jersey from the Garden State to the garbage state.”

The nonprofit New Jersey Clean Communities Council oversees the reporting requirements for the program. Disbursements are based on housing units and miles of municipally owned roadways.

“Municipalities and counties are strongly encouraged to use these grants to pay for volunteer and paid cleanups, badly-needed equipment purchases, enforcement activities and education,” said Sandy Huber, Executive Director of New Jersey Clean Communities Council. “We are grateful for funding that helps keep New Jersey clean. We are proud to serve as an educational resource for communities, as we drive many of our campaigns to engage the younger generations to help mold positive, long-term behaviors toward discarding litter.”

Municipalities receiving the largest grants this year are:

• Newark, Essex County, $404,694;
• Jersey City, Hudson County, $373,700;
• Toms River, Ocean County, $210,009;
• Paterson, Passaic County, $181,064;
• Hamilton, Mercer County, $178,089;
• Edison, Middlesex County, $167,329;
• Elizabeth, Union County, $166,630;
• Woodbridge, Middlesex County, $164,439;
• Brick, Ocean County, $159,487;
• Middletown, Monmouth County, $144,268;
• Cherry Hill, Camden County, $141,869;
• Trenton, Mercer County, $133,431;
• Clifton, Passaic County, $129,674;
• Vineland, Cumberland County, $125,346;
• Franklin, Somerset County, $122,873;
• Berkeley, Ocean County, $122,649;
• Camden, Camden County, $118,720
• Gloucester Township, Camden County, $116,662;
• Lakewood, Ocean County, $112,531;
• Old Bridge, Middlesex County, $112,307;
• Howell, Monmouth County, $110,108;
• Jackson, Ocean County, $107,743;
• Parsippany-Troy Hills, Morris County, $104,355;
• East Orange, Essex County, $103,657;
• Manchester, Ocean County, $103,563;
• Wayne, Passaic County, $100,900;
• Bayonne, Hudson County, $100,525.

Counties receiving the largest grants are:

• Ocean, $196,702;
• Cumberland, $172,382;
• Burlington, $161,449;
• Bergen, $141,166;
• Gloucester, $132,249;
• Camden, $126,698;
• Monmouth, $121,119;
• Atlantic, $118,974;
• Salem, $114,801;
• Middlesex, $100,572;
• Sussex, $100,175.

Litter comes from a variety of sources, such as pedestrians, motorists, overflowing household garbage, construction sites and uncovered trucks. Litter is often blown by the wind until it is trapped somewhere, such as along a fence, or in a ditch or gully. People tend to litter when an area is already littered, and when they lack a sense of ownership or pride in their community.

Activities funded by Clean Communities grants include cleanups of stormwater systems that can disperse trash into streams, rivers and bays; volunteer cleanups of public properties; adoption and enforcement of local anti-littering ordinances; beach cleanups; public information and education programs; and purchases of litter collection equipment such as receptacles, recycling bins, anti-litter signs and graffiti removal supplies.

For a complete list of municipal and county grant awards, visit www.njclean.org