Parsippany Receiving $161K Recycling Grant

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Parsippany is set to receive a $161,000 grant from the state to help enhance their recycling efforts, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said.

Parsippany is one of 24 towns to receive over $100,000 in funds, and the only Morris County town. The funds come from the state’s Recycling Enhancement Act, which is funded through a surcharge on trash thrown away at solid waste facilities. Grants are given based on a town's recycling rate in 2016.

The grants can be used to help bolster those efforts, including "funding a recycling coordinator position, sponsoring household hazardous waste collection events, providing recycling receptacles and pickup in public places, maintaining leaf composting operations, doing educational outreach about the importance of recycling, or implementing curbside recycling pickup programs."

“New Jersey remains a national leader in recycling more than 30 years after becoming the first state in the nation to mandate recycling on a state-wide basis,” said Mark Pedersen, Assistant Commissioner for Site Remediation and Waste Management. “We are pleased to see so many communities recycling and expect that the grants will further their efforts to educate the public of the importance in keeping our environment clean. We remain committed to achieving a 50 percent municipal solid waste recycling rate in New Jersey.”

The recycling rate in New Jersey is 44 percent, well above the national rate of 34 percent but below the state's goal of 50 percent.

Image via NJ DEP