Montgomery balks at leaf pickup and composting rules

By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
   MONTGOMERY — The Township Committee has voiced its concerns regarding a proposed amended version of the state’s recycling rules that could require the township to begin a leaf pick-up and composting program for the entire municipality.
   In their letter to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that was mailed last week, the Township Committee requested the state change the language in the amended rules to continue allowing residents to independently handle leaf collection and composting.
   While the DEP’s current rules mandate the composting of all leaves, they do not place the burden of carrying out the composting on municipalities. Instead they give municipalities the flexibility to either provide a leaf composting program to their residents or require individuals to use their own resources to compost leaves. The updated rules state that municipalities would be required “to arrange” for the composting of leaves, which township officials fear means they will be forced to take on the responsibility of composting for every resident in Montgomery, which they have never done because of the associated costs.
   In order to satisfy the existing state recycling rules, Montgomery residents have the option of hiring a contractor to pick up their leaves and send them to a certified composting site, taking their leaves to a composting site, or composting their leaves in their yards, environmental conditions permitting.
   Mayor Cecilia Birge said although the township would like to provide these services to residents, the regulatory hurdles and costs of making this happen are too high.
   She added that the township recently pursued hiring a contractor to provide this service, but received no bids. Montgomery has also considered handling composting itself, but decided against this after determining that purchasing the equipment and permits needed to do leaf pick-up, paying staff to pick-up leaves and building a composting facility would be even more expensive than hiring a private company to do the work, Mayor Birge said.
   According to Township Administrator Donato Nieman, just building a leaf recycling facility would cost more than a million dollars and the alternative of paying for curbside pick-up and drop-off of leaves to a licensed composting facility would amount to approximately $250,000 a year.
   ”We are very interested in resolving this issue because to us it’s an environmental issue and it’s a quality of life issue,” Mayor Birge said. “I just don’t see how we could do it in this kind of budgetary environment, even if the regulatory hurdles moved out.
   ”This is one of those unfunded mandates,” she added.
   Princeton Borough, Princeton Township, West Windsor, Plainsboro and Rocky Hill have been providing leaf pick-up and composting to their residents for a number of years, so would not be affected by the change in the state’s recycling rules.
   Plainsboro’s Department of Public Works provides two curbside leaf pick-ups each fall and stores the leaves in the township, until the Middlesex County Improvement Authority picks them up for transport to a composting facility. Plainsboro residents also have the option of bringing their leaves to the township’s temporary holding site. Plainsboro Administrator Bob Sheehan said the township paid the improvement authority $21,650 last year to transport the leaves to the compost site, but was unable to provide the total cost of leaf collection in the township.
   Princeton Borough’s Department of Public Works provides curbside leaf pickup to its residents weekly and does additional pickups when needed. A vacuum attached to the public works trucks pick up the leaves, which are then driven to a compost site in Lawrence.
   Residents of Princeton Township receive two curbside leaf pickups each fall from their Department of Public Works. Weekly pickup is also available for residents who choose to participate in the township’s bagged leaf pickup program. The township provides 20 of the program’s special bags to each resident at no cost and charges residents for any additional bags. Residents fill the bags with leaves and place them in front of their homes for pickup. All leaves are transported by the township to the same composing site used by Princeton Borough.
   In West Windsor, residents’ leaves are picked up once a month throughout the fall on scheduled days by the township’s Department of Public Works. These leaves are then transported to a composting facility.
   Rocky Hill pays a private contractor between $25,000 and $35,000 a year for leaf pickup and transportation to a composting facility. The borough usually provides three leaf pickups a year.