DEP Gives Woodbridge $122K for Recycling

In a time of tight money, Woodbridge has been named as the recipient of a $122,271 state grant to go towards its recycling efforts.

The NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is spreading around more than $1.4 million in state grants throughout Middlesex County to help implement and enhance local recycling programs, DEP Commissioner Bob Martin announced in a statement.

Woodbridge received the third largest award among Middlesex County municipalities that received the grant.

The funds are being awarded through the Recycling Enhancement Act, which has significantly increased recycling tonnage grants the DEP is able to distribute to almost all of the state’s cities and towns. All together, $13.1 million in state grants will be distributed to municipalities throughout New Jersey.

The recycling grant program is funded by a $3 per ton surcharge on trash disposed at solid waste facilities, according to DEP. Distribution of grant funds this year is based on the recycling successes local governments demonstrated in 2010. In 2010, New Jersey reached a 40-percent municipal solid waste or MSW recycling rate for the first time since 1998.

Grant awards for Middlesex County include: Carteret, $18,089; Cranbury, $63,871; Dunellen, $6,421; East Brunswick, $91,049; Edison, $86,440; Helmetta, $2,479; Highland Park, $12,274; Jamesburg, $6,881; Metuchen,$15,380; Middlesex, $20,374; Milltown, $9,343; Monroe, $130,078; New Brunswick, $77,123; North Brunswick, $69,623; Old Bridge, $75,614; Perth Amboy, $54,747; Piscataway, $106,724; Plainsboro, $49,723; Sayreville, $52,503; South Amboy, $13,698; South Brunswick, $155,272; South Plainfield, $86,998; South River, $19,567; Spotswood, $72,187; Woodbridge, $122,271. 

Municipal governments, vital to the overall success of recycling, receive 60 percent of the money the fund generates to help them enhance recycling outreach and compliance efforts. The balance is awarded to county solid-waste management and household hazardous-waste collection programs, county and state promotional efforts, and recycling research.

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