Bordentown City Environmental Commission brings in county speaker
By: Stephanie Prokop
BORDENTOWN CITY"All that garbage is a misplaced asset," said Wayne DeFeo, a county recycling representative who addressed the Bordentown City Environmental Commission on Tuesday morning.
Mr. DeFeo spoke at the Carlslake Community Center, stressing the importance of small business recycling and addressing concerned owners’ questions and comments.
Mak Kieffer, owner of Silk and Tweed in Bordentown City, stressed that Bordentown City was looking for a way to maximize its means of recycling.
"It is the law," she added.
Mike Hunninghake, chairman of the Bordentown City Environmental Commission, explained that the Recycling Subcommittee that the commission has organized is interested in ways to increase the rate of recycling, for both environmental reasons, and also in an effort to save the city money.
"All of the recyclables put in the landfill end up costing the county money in forms of tipping fees for having the trash taken," Mr. Hunninghake said. Mr. DeFeo added that once the landfill is filled, it’s going to be filled.
"We are making more garbage today per person than 10 years ago," he said. "When the landfill fills up in 15 or so years, you’re done," he said.
The recycling program in Burlington County is one of the cheapest per taxpayer, with a cost per household around $2.35 a month, estimated Mr. DeFeo. The main concern for small businesses to "reinvigorate the recycling program" is cost, convenience, and space for storage, he said.
Many small businesses were also informed on how they could be included in county pickups. According to Mr. DeFeo, the county does provide collection for small businesses owned by residents. Or, the small businesses could simply pay the hourly rate for a private collection.
Mr. DeFeo added that because the county gets initiatives to have recycling programs, and finances these programs through tax dollars, a taxpayer would be literally throwing money away if they didn’t oblige to pitch in, he added.
The presentation also covered the question of what is recyclable.
"Steel is so valuable right now, there’s been a specific case in northern New Jersey of rolls of steel stolen," he said.
The two biggest resources that are shipped overseas from New Jersey are scrap metal and paper: scrap metal in the forms of steel and aluminum cans, and paper in the form of mixed paper, he said.
The biggest misconception of recycling paper is that people think they can recycle pizza boxes, or other kinds of plastic containers that have food residue still left in them, he said.
This is actually a dangerous procedure, warned Mr. DeFeo, because the greasy cardboard, once compacted can set fire aboard this vessel. Not only that, but one returned cargo load equals three months of profit down the drain. According to Mr. DeFeo, China is using these resources faster than we can ship them there.
This is why all residents, he said, including small business owners should look at their garbage as something that has value, as opposed to throwing it away with the rest of their trash.

