WEST DEPTFORD – Senate President Steve Sweeney, Deputy Assembly Speaker John Burzichelli and Assemblywoman Celeste Riley announced that municipalities in the 3rd Legislative District will receive over $446,400 in state recycling grants from the Department of Environmental Protection to help implement and enhance local recycling efforts. In addition, Gloucester County will receive $221,000 and Cumberland and Salem County will receive $110,000 each.
The grants are being awarded through the state’s Recycling Enhancement Act. The recycling grant program is funded by a $3 per ton surcharge on trash disposed of at solid waste facilities across the state. Distribution of grants this year is based on the recycling successes local governments demonstrated in 2011.
“Communities that work hard to encourage recycling save more than the environment, they also save money,” said Sweeney. “They not only save money by sending less to landfills, they also gain because of programs like this. When the state partners with our communities to promote sustainable programs like recycling, we all win.”
“By ‘going green,’ more and more communities are realizing they can really save a lot of green, too,” said Burzichelli. “By rewarding communities for their efforts, these grants will allow current recycling programs to not only continue, but hopefully expand and grow.”
“Residents who recycle already know the tremendous difference between what they throw away and what they send off to be recycled,” said Riley. “Our towns, too, have seen that difference through lower tipping fees at the landfills. With these grants, our communities will have the direct financial incentive to be even more vigilant about recycling.”
The local municipalities receiving funding are East Greenwich $11,183.14, Logan $64,511.43, South Harrison $2,820.76, Swedesboro $6,169.66, Woolwich $21,944.99.
