The last one of three informational meetings on Lawrence Township’s planned organic waste recycling program is set for Wednesday, March 26 at 7 p.m.
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The last one of three informational meetings on Lawrence Township’s planned organic waste recycling program is set for Wednesday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at the Lawrence Branch of the Mercer County Library System on Darrah Lane.
Greg Whitehead, the township’s recycling coordinator, and Pam Frank, who chairs the township’s Environmental Resources and Sustainability Green Advisory Committee, will welcome attendees and explain the program.
Township Council recently awarded a trash contract to Central Jersey Waste & Recycling Co. that includes the food waste recycling option.
There has been much interest in the organic waste recycling program, but a minimum of 300 households must sign up for the program before it can go into effect. It costs $17 per month, and participants will be billed directly by the hauler — not Lawrence Township.
But the first 300 households to sign up will see a reduction in the $17 monthly fee, thanks to a $20,000 grant from Sustainable Jersey that was awarded to Lawrence Township last week. The 301st household and those that follow will pay the full amount.
The organic waste recycling program is limited to households whose trash is picked up curbside. Residents who live in apartment or townhouse developments and who put their household trash in a Dumpster are not eligible to take part in the program.
Participants in the organic waste recycling program, which is voluntary, will be given a green bucket in which to place the organic waste. The buckets will be picked up once a week and taken to a specialized site in Maryland. It takes about 80 days for the waste to turn into compost.
The program accepts food and garden waste that includes food leftovers, bones, fish skins, pizza boxes and other biodegrable material such as sticks and branches. Those are some of the items that cannot be composted in the back yard.
If enough households sign up for it, Lawrence Township could become the second municipality in Mercer County — after Princeton — to engage in an organic waste recycling program, said Pam Mount. She serves on Lawrence Township’s Environmental Resources and Sustainability Green Advisory Committee’s food waste recycling committee.
Organic waste that is deposited in landfills creates methane gas, which is harmful to the environment, she said. If that waste can be diverted from a landfill, methane can be eliminated, she said. Methane is worse than the emissions from cars and trucks, she added.
”We can change. We can make an impact by getting food and organic material out of the waste stream,” Ms. Mount said.

