LAMBERTVILLE: 100 would pay $65 to recycle food waste

Program would save city money and create free compost

By John Tredrea, Special Writer
   A year-long pilot program of recycling food waste was expected to be approved by the Lambertville City Council at its Tuesday night meeting.
   Mayor David DelVecchio said that, under a resolution on the agenda of the Council meeting, about 100 residents would participate in the pilot program.
   ”The response to an online survey we ran about trying the pilot program was very positive,” the mayor said Saturday “If the resolution passes, the residents who participate would pay $65 each to participate in the pilot program.
   ”They’d get a collection can and bags with special markings. What they’d pay would also cover the cost of transporting the food waste to a facility where it would be turned into compost that would be made available to city residents.”
   ”The program would be environmentally friendly and have cost benefits as well, by reducing the amount of trash we’d send to landfills,” the mayor said. “The city’s environmental commission should be applauded for doing research on the food recycling program.”
   The proposed program also could wind up reducing the cost of running the city’s wastewater treatment plant, among other savings, some of which would be achieved by the reduction in the amount of waste the city would have to send elsewhere. The city currently sends about 3.4 million pounds of trash a year to landfills or incinerators.
   ”This new program, if successful, would drastically reduce that amount, saving the city money and reducing our carbon footprint. In addition, residents would be entitled to free compost several times a year,” the mayor said.
   ”We’re also studying the possibility of turning food waste into bio-fuel that could help power the wastewater treatment plant,” said Julie Anne Hajdusek of the city’s environmental commission. Ms. Hajdusek put together the grant application that landed the city a $10,000 grant from Sustainable Jersey, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. The grant money will be used to fund a pilot food waste recycling program.