MANVILLE: Community readies for cleanup day

By Mary Ellen Zangara, Special Writer
   The Third Annual Clean Community Day sponsored by the Borough of Manville will be held this Saturday, April 30. Groups from town are all pitching in to help beautify the community.
   Letters went out to groups in Manville asking for their support, including Boy Scout Troop 193, Christ the King School, Alexander Batcho Intermediate School, Sacred Heart Church CCD classes, Manville High School clubs and sports teams, fire departments, rescue squad, VFW, and the American Legion.
   Phillip Petrone of the Public Works department attended a workshop in Toms River a few years ago about Clean Community Day and brought the idea back to Manville to see if it could be done here. He spoke to Mayor Lillian Zuza and some of the members of the Borough Council and Mayor Zuza thought it was a good idea to do it.
   ”We have various locations in Manville that are parks or public land. We are going to clean up brooks and whatever debris is in the brook and we going to be picking up a lot of the litter,” said Mr. Petrone.
   According to the New Jersey Clean Communities website, New Jersey Clean Communities is a statewide litter-abatement program created by the passage of the Clean Communities Act. The program is managed by the state Department of Environmental Protection, Department of Treasury, and Clean Communities Council. It’s supported by local governments, businesses, community organizations, schools and individuals who work together to keep New Jersey clean.
   The Clean Communities Act, passed first in 1986 and later in 2002, establishes a funding mechanism for the program by placing a user-fee on manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors who may produce litter-generating products. The user-fee, collected by the Department of Treasury and disbursed by the Department of Environment Protection, generates approximately $14 million each year.
   • $4 million is placed in the state recycling fund and then disbursed to municipalities in the form of recycling tonnage grants.
   • $300,000 is disbursed to a nonprofit (currently the Clean Communities Council) for the implementation of statewide education related to litter-abatement.
   • Of the balance, 80 percent goes to 559 municipalities, 10 percent goes to 21 counties, and 10 percent goes to the Division of Parks and Forestry in the Department of Environmental Protection. New Jersey Clean Communities at the local level involves a three-fold attack on litter: cleanup, enforcement and education.
   Pre registration is being done through the groups and schools and onsite registration will be done at firehouse No. 3 on North 8th Avenue that morning at 7:30 a.m. Groups will then be bused to their cleanup location with chaperones that will be there with the groups along with chaperones provided by Mr. Petrone. The actual cleanup will take place from 8 a.m. to approximately 11 a.m. Mr. Petrone is limiting the clean up to ages 12 and up as he does not want the younger children to be hurt in anyway.
   All participants will be given a hat with the Clean Community Day logo. Mr. Petrone is anticipating having many participants involved. Even if you cannot stay the whole day, Mr. Petrone encourages people to come give whatever time they can. He will not turn anyone away.
   ”Hopefully it will be a good affair and a good time,” said Mr. Petrone.
   For more information please contact Mr. Petrone at the Public Works department at 725-5515 ext. 106, or administrative assistant Violet Hall at ext. 100.
   Anyone interested in helping is invited to come to the firehouse on Saturday morning and register.