By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Lawrence Township’s curbside organic waste recycling program is slated to begin next month, making it the second town in Mercer County to offer the service, according to local officials.
Nearly 200 households have expressed interest in the voluntary program, which collects food waste as well as paper plates, tea bags, houseplants, fruits, nuts, vegetables, spoiled or expired food, pizza boxes and paper take-out containers.
The curbside organic waste recycling program is open to households that have curbside trash pickup. Residents who live in apartment or townhouse developments and who put their household trash in a Dumpster are not eligible for the program.
“About 198 households have expressed an interest in the program. We want them to sign up officially as soon as possible, so we can give the list to Central Jersey Waste & Recycling,” said Public Works director Gregory Whitehead.
The list of participants is needed so Central Jersey Waste & Recycling, which is operating the program, can order the special green carts for the organic waste and also set up a collection schedule, Mr. Whitehead said.
Participants would pay a $17 monthly fee to Central Jersey Waste & Recycling. A grant from Sustainable Jersey, however, would be used to offset the cost for the first 300 households that sign up. It will reduce the cost by 30 percent — from $240 to $180 per year.
The $17 monthly fee covers the transportation costs to haul the organic waste to a special facility in Delaware. The facility converts the organic waste into compost. If enough municipalities join the organic waste recycling movement, township officials said, a facility could be built closer to home and it is likely that the monthly fee would be less.
Households that choose to take part in the program would keep a small container in the kitchen, and dump food scraps and other organic recyclable material into it. The township initially may supply special bags for the collection containers, but participants likely would have to buy their own later on.
The contents of the kitchen container would be placed in a small green container, similar to the blue trash buckets issued by Lawrence Township. Once a week, Central Jersey Waste & Recycling would send a truck to empty the green containers.
There are financial benefits to the township. Central Jersey Waste & Recycling is paid to collect the trash in the blue buckets. The trash trucks go to the waste transfer station in Ewing Township, where they are weighed by the Mercer County Improvement Authority.
The Mercer County Improvement Authority charges a fee to Lawrence Township on a tonnage basis. Lawrence Township pays to have the trash collected and then pays $125 per ton to have it hauled away to a landfill.
As the organic waste recycling program becomes more popular, township officials said, it would cost Lawrence less money for the disposal costs. The garbage trucks won’t weigh as much, because there would be less in them. The green organic recycling program buckets are not subject to being weighed.
For more information, visit www.lawrencetwp.com, call the Department of Public Works at 609-587-1894, email [email protected].
