EATONTOWN – Residents will soon be able to place all mandated recyclables in one container as the borough readies to transition to single-stream recycling at the beginning of November.
“Switching to single-stream recycling gives residents the ability to recycle easier and will hopefully encourage even more residents to recycle,” said Frank Cannella Jr., the department of public works director.
“Previously residents had to separate co-mingled items like glass, cans, jars, paper, cardboard and chipboard, but now all these items can be placed in one container at their curb for easier pick-up.”
Cannella said single-stream recycling, which starts in the borough beginning Nov. 1, also allows residents to place larger pieces of cardboard that are flattened next to the container on the curb for easy pick-up.
“Single-stream recycling has picked up speed in recent years and I definitely think it provides benefits,” Cannella said. “It makes things a lot easier on our residents because they only have one blue container to worry about putting on the curb instead of three.
“It also makes things easier on our professionals because it’ll reduce the amount of labor they have to put in because now we will only have one truck going around instead of three picking up the separated materials.”
Cannella said that there are no other changes planned in the borough’s current collection schedule.
The Eatontown Recycling Center will continue to provide separate containers for glass/jars, mixed paper and cardboard for residents who wish to continue disposing of their recyclables in that manner.
There will also be a single-stream container in the center starting Nov. 2.
“Residents will still have the ability, if they want to, to bring their recycling material, bulk, electronics, metal to our recycling center,” he said. “We have our regulars and we aren’t taking that away from them, just making it easier.”
The Eatontown Recycling Center is located at 131 Lewis St. and is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on the third Saturday of every month with the exception of holidays.