State DEP Posts Recycling Stats for 2017

TRENTON – The Department of Environmental Protection is awarding more than $14 million in grants to municipal and county governments to enhance recycling efforts, Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe announced Dec. 20.
Accoding to a release, the annual https://bit.ly/35HkTH2 are awarded through the state’s Recycling Enhancement Act, which authorizes a $3 per-ton surcharge on trash disposed at solid waste facilities to fund recycling efforts. The DEP allocates this money back to municipalities and counties based on their recycling accomplishments. 
This year’s grants are based on recycling performance in 2017.
“Recycling remains an important way for residents to help protect the environment,” McCabe stated. “Recycling conserves resources, reduces the amount of trash that is sent to solid waste facilities, and helps reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. These grants will fund efforts that have become even more important as we look for ways to address changes and challenges in recycling markets that are occurring across the nation.” 
Each year, recipients use these grants to improve recycling rates through a variety of initiatives, including funding recycling coordinator positions, providing recycling receptacles and pickup in public places, upgrading recycling drop-off centers, conducting education and outreach, and implementing curbside recycling pickup programs. 
In 2017, New Jersey generated 9.6 million tons of municipal solid waste, with 3.85 million tons recycled, for a 40-percent municipal solid waste recycling rate, compared to 44 percent in 2016.
Overall, New Jersey in 2017 generated 23.4 million tons of solid waste, which includes municipal waste plus construction debris and other types of non-municipal waste. Of this, 14.1 million tons were recycled, for an overall recycling rate of 60 percent, compared to 61 percent in 2016.
The DEP attributes the 4-percent decline in the 2017 municipal solid waste recycling rate to manufacturers of consumer products, such as drink bottles, continuing to shift to lighter materials such as plastic over glass. 
Manufacturers are also using thinner and lighter weight plastics. In addition, the volume of newspaper recycled continues to shrink as consumers increasingly rely on smartphones, tablets, and other electronic devices for information.
The 2017 recycling rate does not fully reflect challenges recycling programs in New Jersey and across the nation have been facing since mid-2017 as China and other nations started rejecting recycling shipments that contain non-recyclable materials, an issue known as recycling contamination. 
Beginning in early 2018, China began banning the importation of most recyclable materials and other nations have followed.
Some examples of recycling contaminants are plastic bags, syringes, auto parts, non-recyclable types of plastic, Styrofoam cups, improperly rinsed and cleaned food containers, food packaging that can’t be cleaned such as soiled pizza boxes, and trash.
To help municipal and county governments address these contamination challenges, the DEP has launched programs to help local governments educate the public on which materials can be recycled and those that cannot. These efforts include https://bit.ly/2SoGCQj which provides social media and education materials to recycling programs, and the free https://recyclecoach.com/ app, which provides convenient access to municipal recycling program information, spelling out what can be recycled on the local level.
“New Jersey is proud to be the first state to require recycling,” said DEP Assistant Commissioner for Ste Remediation and Waste Management Mark Pedersen. “We expect that these grants will further ongoing recycling efforts in our communities and educate the public about the importance of proper recycling.”
 For a complete list of recycling tonnage grants, visit https://bit.ly/35HVGMs. For the first time, municipal recycling rate breakdowns are available to municipalities as a tool to help them better target recycling efforts.