NORTH BRUNSWICK – Six months into a new contract for recycling services with Middlesex County, North Brunswick residents are still putting non-recyclables out to the curb.
There are complications because the previous contractor, Waste Management, would pick up everything, including non-recyclable items, Eric Chaszar, director of the North Brunswick Department of Public Works, said during the North Brunswick Township Council meeting on Dec. 7.
“If we had done that today, there would be a huge burden on the current contractor taking all this waste and having to pay for it at the end where the recycling plant would charge them a fee for taking all the waste being collected there,” Chaszar said.
Chaszar said Waste Management would not rebid for a contract with the township because the company wanted the township to pick up any waste from the recycling facility, which meant an extra cost for the disposal fee.
Instead, township officials decided to enter into a contract with Middlesex County and the county picks up the disposal fee, he said.
Acceptable items include glass bottles, jars, plastic containers, aluminum cans, steel cans and tin cans; mail, envelopes, catalogs, magazines, office paper and used books; newspapers tied in bundles no more than 12 inches high; and layered cardboard, shipping boxes, non-wax-coated food and cereal boxes, tissue boxes, shoe boxes and gift boxes.
Only plastics No. 1 and No. 2 – as identified by a triangle symbol on the bottom of packages – can be put out for collections. Plastics No. 3, No. 5, No. 7, etc. must be thrown out in the regular trash.
Pizza boxes can only be recycled if they are not contaminated by oil and grease; since that is nearly impossible, Chaszar said they should be thrown in the regular trash as well.
“Pizza boxes are a crazy thing,” he said. “I’ve never seen a pizza box without oil on it.”
The January recycling calendar will soon be in the mail, listing all acceptable and non-acceptable items, Chaszar said.
Fliers are being mailed to each address on the route so renters are aware of the restrictions as well, he said. The envelope will be labeled “recycling information” in big red letters so residents do not think it is a bill or discard it.
“One day I followed the recycling truck and I had brochures with me and I dropped them at houses every time I saw them [recycling employees] leave contamination behind,” Chaszar said.
Councilwoman Amanda Guadagnino reminded residents not to dispose of their recyclables in plastic bags, but instead to dump everything into the bin.
“It binds up the machine and causes a problem,” she said.
There is information on the township website at http://northbrunswicknj.gov in English and Spanish or call the Department of Public Works at 732-297-1134.