Jersey City Gets $231K from DEP for Recycling Programs
By Jon Whiten • Nov 16th, 2009 • Category: Blog
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced today that it is providing Jersey City with $231,402 in grants to help boost our local recycling efforts as part of $14.5 million it is doling out to municipalities across the state.
Despite the statewide grant amount being nearly double last year’s figure, Jersey City will receive more than $100,000 less than it did in 2008, when it hauled in $348,563.16. The individual grant awards for this year are based on the amount of materials municipalities and counties recycled in 2007, and 2008′s awards were based on the amount collected in ’06.
The statewide recycling rate in 2007 was 57.3 percent, with 12.4 million tons of solid waste being recycled. In Hudson County, the rate was 57.4 percent, with 808,490 tons of solid waste recycled.
“New Jersey has always led the way in recycling,” DEP acting commissioner Mark Mauriello says in a statement. “Recycling helps New Jersey’s economy by creating tens of thousands of jobs and supporting industries that need recycled material. And as we all know, recycling is one of the best things we can all do to protect our environment.”
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Jon Whiten is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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