Action Center
Wednesday May 28, 2008
Town: Recycle, or You'll be Fined
Little Falls is implementing an aggressive recycling plan in response to a new $3-per-ton tax on garbage that was passed by state lawmakers earlier this year. The more the township recycles, officials say, the less financial impact the tax will have.
The new recycling program, enacted May 1, includes additional pick-up times and stricter penalties for those who do not adhere to the recycling regulations.
Municipal officials say they hope the changes will offset the new tipping fees that went into effect on April 1.
“We make money on the recyclables,” Little Falls Councilman William Liess said last week. “That’s why we are doing this.”
The Passaic County communities of Little Falls, Totowa and West Paterson will be paying up to an additional $18,000 annually to state waste management agencies in trash disposal charges.
Officials from the three towns said they were unsure what direct financial impact the tax will have on residents.
Although the tax has hit the entire state, so far Little Falls is the only municipality in the Passaic Valley region to formally enact an updated recycling plan. In West Paterson, officials said they anticipate having a new plan by this summer.
In Totowa, officials said they don’t intend to change the municipal plan. Officials with the Passaic County Office of Natural Resource Programs said there was no formal mandate for towns to change their respective recycling plans. Refuse from the county is weighed at a transfer station and transported out of state, county resource officials added.
“This is where the taxpayer can help themselves,” West Paterson Mayor Pat Lepore said.
Meanwhile, Philip Simon, Little Falls Department of Public Works director, is writing an ordinance that will allow the township to hand out summonses to repeat offenders who do not recycle. Fines would be determined by the municipal court on a case-by-case basis. The proposed ordinance should come up for consideration before the Little Falls Township Council soon, Simon said.
“It was like beating a dead horse, getting some people to recycle,” Simone said. “Now people will have to come to court and pay a fee determined by a judge.”
Some Little Falls residents said they were OK with the recycling fine the township is considering.
“I think people should recycle,” said Brian Reynolds, 61, of Little Falls. “If some people don’t care to recycle, fine them. It’s up to the people to recycle, and I do think this new plan will help.”
The garbage tax came with the introduction of the New Jersey Recycling Enhancement Act, which was sponsored by state Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, chairman of the Senate Environment Committee. Money generated by the tax will be used to fund municipal recycling education and awareness programs around New Jersey. State Department of Environmental Protection officials estimate that the new tax will generate $25 million annually.
Smith said the $3-per-ton fee had previously been in place after being introduced in the state Legislature in the late 1980s, but expired in 1996. In response, the state Legislature created a small grant to help keep the programs alive but it only generated $9 million a year, according to DEP officials. After that, Smith said he noticed that municipalities began to recycle less with the absence of money for recycling education.
“New Jersey recycling statistics went into the tank,” Smith said. “We have one of the lowest recycling rates in the country.”
In 1995, 45 percent of household waste in New Jersey was being recycled, according to DEP recycling statistics. By 2005, the state recycled only 33 percent of household waste. Smith credits the decline to the minimal amount of money being spent on recycling education programs.
“I think when the fee expired there was a direct cause and effect,” Smith said of the expiration of the tax that funded the recycling program in 1996.
On May 1, Little Falls kicked off the borough’s new recycling plan by changing the pick-up schedule. Under the new plan, there will continue to be bimonthly pick-ups on Wednesdays. The township also will pick up co-mingled items of glass, tin, some metals and plastic placed all in one container.
Previously only certain items were collected on certain days, township officials said. Also under the new plan, electronics, such as computers and televisions up to 32 inches will be accepted.
Reach Virgil Dickson at 973-569-7172 or dickson@northjersey.com.
Reprinted with permission. (c)2008 Herald News (Passaic Co., NJ) Virgil Dickson
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