Area towns to receive combined $59,000 via the Ocean County Recycling Revenue Sharing Program

Local municipalities that took part in last year’s Ocean County Recycling Revenue Sharing Program will receive a combined $59,524 of the almost $270,000 generated during the last six months of 2014. Barnegat Township will receive $8,633; Barnegat Light will get $1,078; Beach Haven is expected to see $3,501; Eagleswood Township will receive $858; and Harvey Cedars will get $1,075. Little Egg Harbor Township will receive $9,707; Long Beach Township will get $6,921; Ship Bottom is expecting to see $2,099; Stafford Township will receive $21,082; Surf City will get $2,432; and Tuckerton will receive $2,138.

Photo via Google
Single-stream recycling allows paper and
plastics to be placed in one container.

During the first six months of 2014, the 11 area towns received a combined $84,887 of the more than $441,000 generated.

“Recycling continues to pay in a big way in Ocean County, and we want to encourage everyone – citizens, businesses and towns – to recycle,” Freeholder James F. Lacey, who serves as liaison to the county’s recycling program, said in a press release.

Since the program began in 1995, the county has returned more than $15 million to its participating towns. The municipalities are provided a portion of the recycling revenues based on the amount recycled and the price per commodity in the current market.

“These prices change all the time,” Lacey said. “What was high in the first half of a year may be on the decrease in the second half. It is based on what the market dictates.”

During the second half of 2014, the county collected 41,983 tons of recyclables. The payout for this period was $6.36 per ton.

The price of commodities such as corrugated cardboard and newspapers continues to decrease, Lacey said. Newspapers and tin cans are both down by $26 a ton as compared to the second half of 2013. However, materials such as aluminum continue to have a high demand, selling for $1,674 a ton, which is a $552 a ton increase from 2013.

Recycling comes with a host of other benefits, such as keeping the material out of the landfill and preserving the space there, Freeholder Director John C. Bartlett Jr. said. Because of these recycling efforts, municipalities collectively saved nearly $3 million in the second half of 2014 by not dumping those materials in the landfill, where they would have to pay a tipping fee, he explained.

Although many towns invest the returned money back into the recycling program, Lacey said towns can use the money as needed.

“If a road needs to be fixed, or a park needs to be upgraded, this money can help with those projects,” he said. “This is a return on their recycling effort.”

Recycling numbers increased after the county implemented single-stream recycling, allowing all materials from newspapers to plastic soda bottles to be placed in one container at the curb, Lacey noted.

“We make every effort to keep this program as convenient as possible,” he said.

— Kelley Anne Essinger


This article was published in The SandPaper.