Hamilton Earns 5th Largest ‘Clean Communities’ Grant in State

Hamilton Township just earned the 5^th largest ‘Clean Communities’ grant in the state to help it continue keeping our community ‘clean and green.’

Thanks to the $177,004 state grant, Hamilton will be able to continue many of its ongoing annual programs, such as various neighborhood cleanups, supporting the annual Bromley neighborhood cleanup along with the CYO of Mercer County, assisting Hamilton’s annual stream cleanups along with the Hamilton Township Environmental Commission and Americorps, supporting cleanup projects with Hamilton-based scouting troops, as well as funding on ongoing street sweeping effort across Hamilton’s 625 lane miles of local roads.

Hamilton’s use of ‘Clean Communities’ grant funds have produced positive results.  For example, Hamilton’s recent Stream Cleanup led to the collection and removal of 47 bags of trash and 29 bags of recyclables from local waterways.  Hamilton’s street sweeping efforts covered 6,095 miles of local roads at least 3 times throughout 2017, which led to 4,217 cubic yards of debris being removed for our community’s streets.

“The ‘Clean Communities’ grant will allow us to continue many great programs and efforts that make a positive difference in keeping Hamilton ‘clean and green’,” explains Mayor Kelly Yaede.
“The neighborhood cleanups, stream cleanups and street sweeping efforts that are funded through this grant complement and enhance our other ongoing efforts that protect our environment and increase our community’s sustainability.”

In 1986, New Jersey enacted the Clean Communities program to address litter-abatement on a comprehensive, statewide level.  Grant funds are provided largely to municipalities (towns) across the state, but also to counties and state parks to support cleanup and educations efforts.

Other Ways Hamilton is Protecting our Local Environment

The Clean Communities grant is just one of many efforts that Hamilton utilizes to protect our local environment.  Other efforts include:

• Partnering with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension – Water Resources Program for various stormwater management and conservation efforts, which promote residential rain barrels and rain gardens workshops
• Running the community’s Ecological Facility – a regional leader for not only recycling initiatives, but also in shared services with other local governments (in 2017, the facility collected 253.52 tons of electronics, 225.72 tons of light metal, 161.87 tons of single-stream recyclable items, and 151.05 tons of cardboard along with other items)
• Earning the 12th highest recycling tonnage grant in the state in 2017
• Installing a solar system that supplements our Public Works garage
• Utilizing garbage collection trucks that use cleaner-burning natural gas (Hamilton was the first town in New Jersey to require collection trucks utilize this type of fuel)
• Creating an Environmental Awards Program that recognizes those who improve our local environment so that we can encourage others to do the same