SAYREVILLE — Borough officials are recruiting members for a Sayreville Green Team. But leave the cleats and cape at home, because this is not a call for sports players or superheroes.
The creation of a Green Team is one of the requirements to become a certified member of Sustainable Jersey.
The state-run Sustainable Jersey program is for municipalities aiming to “go green, save money, and take steps to sustain their quality of life over the long term.” The program incentivizes improvements in a wide range of areas, such as pollution, land use, air and water quality, equity and global warming.
Councilman Daniel Buchanan, who is liaison to public works, is organizing the efforts for certification.
“We are joining to make the town greenerfriendly,” Buchanan said. “The country needs to go in a greener direction.”
If certified, the town would be eligible for grants and resources for projects that fall under sustainable action categories. Categories range from energy efficiency and green design to local economies and recycling. There are 16 categories.
Buchanan already has plans for how the additional resources would be used. The council is looking into buying solar panels for borough buildings and streetlights throughout the town. It would also like to purchase hybrid borough vehicles, he said.
First things first, however. In order to achieve certification, two or three priority actions much be completed, depending on whether the town aims for bronze, which requires two actions, or silver certification, requiring three. But before those actions are implemented, the program requires the establishment of a Green Team.
“This is a big undertaking,” Buchanan said. “The team needs involvement from all departments — water and sewer, public works, recreation, police, fire and first aid, with the recycling, shade tree and environmental commissions all giving their input.”
So far, Buchanan said he has received support for the project across the board. Councilman Kenneth Kelly is liaison to the water and sewer department and was public works liaison for two years before Buchanan took over.
Kelly is supportive of the initiative and said there are numerous opportunities for the town to save money, help the environment and create room at the landfill. He said he is most interested in implementing singlestream recycling, which provides a way for all paper fibers and containers to be disposed of together in a collective truck, instead of being sorted into separate bins for newspapers, cardboard, plastic, glass, etc.
“It would make it easier for residents to recycle and encourage more of them to do so,” Kelly said. “Sustainability is important, not just for Sayreville. Everybody should get on board statewide and nationwide.”
Once a Green Team is established, Buchanan said a chairperson would be selected to head operations. He also said the town is looking to work with Greener By Design, an environmental asset management and energy investment company, to help with future projects.
While certification is considered prestigious, the state does not plan to mandate participation in the program. It is an initiative of the New Jersey State League of Municipalities’ Mayors’ Committee for a Green Future, the Municipal Land Use Center at The College of New Jersey, the state Department of Environmental Protection, the state Board of Public Utilities, and a coalition of New Jersey nonprofits, agencies and experts.