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March 17 to 23
Waste Is a $100 Billion Industry
As the towns in Cape May County continue to wrestle with the high costs of waste and recycling management, a new report says waste and recycling in 2024 were, for the first time, a $100 billion industry. The report in Waste Business Journal says the combined revenues from private and publicly traded companies, plus municipal entities, totaled $105 billion last year. In 1992 the industry had revenues of just $29 billion.
The report says that waste and recycling collection accounts for 66% of revenues, disposal 27% and transfer and processing 7%. The report also demonstrated a significant move toward privatization in the industry. Municipal waste management has declined from a total 38% share of the industry in 1992 to 17% today.
Increasingly municipal solid waste landfills are being privatized. Today just about half of these landfills have been privatized, compared with 17% in 1984. The data shows landfill operations generated $18 billion for publicly traded companies alone.
The pie that everyone wants a bigger share of is residential collections. As a whole, residential collections constitute a $34 billion slice of the waste and recycling business, with only about $8 billion of it in the hands of municipal operators.
Recycling continues to be the law in many states and municipalities, posing its own conundrum. While the industry struggles to find markets for its recycled materials, more of it, especially plastic, ends up in landfills. China’s National Sword policy in 2018 created a crisis by removing the single largest market for recycled material all at once. Still, the WBJ report shows publicly traded companies engaged in material recovery facilities and recycling operations generating close to $2 billion per year.
Waste is big business, and it is getting bigger every year.
Medicaid Cuts
As federal policymakers increasingly talk about cuts to Medicaid, states prepare for a crisis they cannot reverse. The Kaiser Family Foundation published an opinion piece on March 21 that says the public should not expect that states will be able to replace any significant cuts in federal Medicaid funding.
What does that mean for Cape May County? NJ Family Care is the Garden State’s implementation of the Medicaid program. It offers health-care coverage to low-income residents of the state. According to NJ Family Care data, in Cape May County just under 17,000 individuals are enrolled in the state program. Of those, 7,000 are under the age of 18, and 1,400 are 65 years of age or older.
One policy area being considered by the Trump administration is reducing the 90% federal match for individuals in the federal Medicaid expansion population. Any shift downward in the federal match would put more of the program’s costs on state budgets, which Kaiser says will not be sustainable in most states.
According to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, “Cutting federal Medicaid funding provided to states that expanded their Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act could lead to substantial losses in revenue for health-care providers and spikes in uncompensated care.” Hospitals like Cooper University Hospital Cape Regional would suffer the largest loss in revenue and the largest increase in uncompensated care.
Immigration Wars
The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled an April 28 hearing concerning New Jersey’s ability to ban public and private entities from entering into arrangements with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service on detention of immigrants. New Jersey suffered an initial loss in a federal case in 2023 and the state appealed.
The news is that the Third Circuit has finally scheduled a hearing 18 months after the state filed its appeal. CoreCivic, the private firm involved in that initial case, runs the Elizabeth Detention Center, which houses immigrants detained by ICE.
In 2021 Gov. Phil Murphy signed a state law banning public and private entities from entering into contracts with ICE for the detention of immigrants. It was that law that a federal judge ruled constituted interference with federal immigration enforcement.
After the state lost in the initial case another private firm, Geo Group, moved forward with a plan for a detention center in Newark that could house as many as 1,000 immigrants.
In 2020 Cape May County Sheriff Robert Nolan tried to make an arrangement with ICE and was barred from doing so by a state attorney general directive. Nolan sued and lost in July 2020.
Then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal maintained that the unrestricted ability to hold individuals not criminally charged creates a threat to trust in the immigrant community, undermining that community’s willingness to cooperate with local law enforcement when they are victims or witnesses of crimes.
The struggle between state and federal power continues with the upcoming hearing.
Week in Review
*Streets in Woodbine and Tuckahoe were blocked to traffic as film director Steven Spielberg and his crew took to the streets and railways to work on an upcoming movie about UFOs.
*The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has begun hearing testimony on a new energy master plan for the state.
*Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2) maintained that he would never vote to cut social net programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security during a tele-town hall he held on March 13.
*Trial dates for Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. and Commissioner Steve Mikulski were once again pushed back after the latter retained a new attorney ahead of a hearing scheduled for March 10.
*The Wildwood Board of Commissioners has honored Police Chief Joseph Murphy for his leadership of the Police Department, including working to advance professional standards, demonstrating decisive leadership and introducing proactive initiatives.
*The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has revoked an air quality permit it had issued for the Atlantic Shores offshore wind project, set for lease areas off the coast of Long Beach Island and Atlantic City.
*A Burleigh resident was arrested March 13 and charged with distribution of methamphetamine and prescription drugs, authorities said.
*A Superior Court judge has granted a temporary restraining order that prevents Wildwood Crest from withdrawing from the so-called Five Mile Dune beach protection and replenishment project.
*Avalon is moving to set rules for vehicles carrying construction debris through the streets on their way to a disposal site, aiming to cut down on trash falling from the trucks.
*The Middle Township Committee is taking advantage of extended deadlines offered by the state for the completion of the 2025 town budget.
*Cape May has taken another step to make sure the owners of short-term rental properties have registered with the city and have had a fire inspection.
*The West Wildwood Board of Commissioners has introduced a 2025 municipal budget with a 5-cent tax rate increase while overall spending is down.
*A 43-year-old father of four young girls is in critical condition following an accident in Woodbine March 14 in which he broke his nose and suffered a skull fracture, an orbital bone fracture and a laceration to his head.
*A Wildwood Crest resident has been arrested and charged in connection with a number of sexual assaults, authorities said.
*It is not often that municipal governing bodies are applauded following a vote on a bond ordinance, but that is what happened at the Cape May City Council meeting March 18.
*The Delaware River and Bay Authority has released a $178.5 million 2025 capital improvements budget, which includes five major projects in Cape May County.
*Since mid-December, all of Cape May County had been classified as in extreme drought. But while the drought still lingers months later, conditions are improving.
*The state Board of Public Utilities has voted to accept and make available on its website a report from the Brattle Group on energy affordability for low- and moderate-income customers during New Jersey’s clean energy transition, a report that focuses on assistance programs and rate options.
*The city is moving to limit the amount of recycling material it will pick up from homes and businesses at curbside.
*Cynthia Lindsay was appointed chief financial officer of Stone Harbor in April 2024, as long-serving CFO James Craft retired. On March 18 she added the title of interim borough administrator to her portfolio.
Spout Off of the Week
Cape May – The Court House comment on the new speed limit on Goshen Rd. and how people ignore it. I wish the police everywhere would go after these lawbreakers that ignore speed limits, stop signs and red lights. I ride a motorcycle and have been for many years and am now considering selling it because the roads are no longer safe being in a car, truck, etc. and treacherous for us on two wheeled vehicles. Please slow down and pay attention to the rules of the road.
