Lacey Gets Boost From State With Clean Communities Grant

Lacey Township will be receiving $56,121.37 in state Clean Communities grants to help fund litter cleanup efforts and beautify the municipality.

“Any grant is going to help the township,” Mayor Mark Dykoff said. “We’re thankful we get things like that.”

Lacey Township is just one of 559 municipalities to be awarded a portion of $13.86 million from the Department of Environmental Protection. Between all 33 municipalities, Ocean County will be receiving $807,245.28; the county will also be receiving an additional $1.73 million. Lacey was awarded the eighth greatest amount in Ocean County behind Toms River, Brick, Berkeley Township, Jackson, Lakewood, Manchester and Stafford.

“Cleaning up litter protects our natural resources, improves our quality of life and builds a strong sense of pride in our communities,” said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. “With these grants, our municipalities and counties will be able to carry out important programs that remove litter and graffiti from our neighborhoods and highways, making our communities better places to live and work.”

Litter comes from pedestrians, motorists, overflowing household garbage, construction sites and uncovered trucks and is often blown by the wind, the DEP said. There is a greater tendency to litter when an area is already cluttered with trash, creating an unsightly, unhealthy and a negative public image.

The Clean Community grants often fund volunteer cleanups of public properties, adoption and enforcement of local anti-littering ordinances, beach cleanups, public information and education programs, purchases of equipment used to collect litter, purchases of litter receptacles and recycling bins, purchases of anti-litter signs, purchases of supplies to remove graffiti, and cleanups of stormwater systems that can disperse trash into streams, rivers and bays.

Lacey typically uses the funds, which have remained fairly stable over the years, to purchase equipment to be used for picking up litter and debris, litter receptacles and recycling bins, anti-litter signs, labels for storm drains, supplies to remove graffiti and to organize and publicize cleanup days such as the Forked River Mountain Coalition Cleanup, Township Administrator and Municipal Clerk Veronica Laureigh.

Clean Communities Council, a nonprofit, will oversea the reporting requirements for the program.

“Clean Communities funding is a real blessing for municipalities and counties in New Jersey,” said CleanCommunities Council Executive Director Sandy Huber. “This money offsets strained budgets by providing funding for volunteer cleanups, purchase of equipment related to cleanup and storm drain activities, enforcement of litter laws, and education in the schools.”

The grants are funded by a legislated user-fee on manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors that produce litter-generating products. The funds are distributed according to the numbers of housing units and miles of municipality owned roadways within each town.

“Clean Communities has a 20-year legacy in New Jersey as the only fully funded, statewide anti-litter program. We are grateful to Governor Chris Christie for his ongoing efforts to keep New Jersey’s communities clean,” Huber said.