CAPE MAY – One side effect of the large amount of construction in Cape May County in the last few years was the production of huge amounts of plastic dust and microplastic debris at demolition and construction sites. A number of county towns have recently taken aim at controlling these environmental contaminants at their source. Add Cape May City to that list.

On Feb. 19 the Cape May City Council adopted an ordinance requiring that, when the cutting or drilling of materials on a list of potential contaminants must be done at a work site, a vacuum attachment must be used on all saws when practical. The ordinance also details where and how such cutting or drilling can take place, along with regulations for cleanup of the workspace and for appropriate disposal of materials.

Curbing plastic pollutants from construction sites has become an area of significant attention. Avalon introduced an ordinance similar to Cape May’s on the same day the city did, Jan. 22. In Ocean City, the Surfrider Foundation of New Jersey is pushing the City Council to pass an ordinance to clean up plastics debris from construction sites.

During the public comment of the Avalon meeting, resident John Kauterman urged the council to go further. Kauterman, a commercial fisherman, has made it his mission to clean up the county’s roads, wetlands and back bay waterways. Of late he has been making the rounds of municipal meetings to push for better regulation of debris on its way to disposal.

Kauterman tries to keep up with the inundation of trash and debris in the county’s wetlands and back bay. He says the debris often results from construction materials falling from trucks and other vehicles that do not use secure covers.

He has played a role in the development and adoption of strict new regulations in Avalon, where an amendment to the borough’s building and construction ordinances is being put in place. The new regulation requires a secure covering for all trucks, trailers and pickups used to transport construction or landscape debris on the streets of the borough. The requirement would apply regardless of the municipality in which the transport originated.

At the same Cape May council meeting at which the city adopted its new ordinance, Kauterman made his case for an amendment similar to Avalon’s to control disposal. He pointed out the city’s distance from the Woodbine landfill and the opportunity for uncovered vehicles to drop trash and debris for miles on county roads.

Mayor Zach Mullock thanked Kauterman for all that he does on behalf of the county environment, but the council made no mention of whether it will take up the cause that brought him to Cape May.

The effective date of the construction site ordinance the City Council did adopt is March 18.

Contact the reporter, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.