New Brunswick Getting $88K Clean Communities Grant from State to Fight Litter

NEW BRUNSWICK – The city will use at least part of a state grant distributed through an anti-litter campaign to purchase bags and gloves for volunteer trash pickups.

New Brunswick will receive $88,678.55 as its share of $27 million the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) issued this week through the New Jersey Clean Communities Council to municipalities and counties throughout the state.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

NJCCC Executive Director JoAnn Gemenden and NJCCC board president Linda Doherty announced the funding payouts Wednesday at an event at the Avenel Performing Arts Center in Woodbridge.

Erin Maguire, New Brunswick’s recycling coordinator and Clean Communities liaison who was on hand this week to accept the ceremonial check on behalf of New Brunswick, said the city typically organizes volunteer litter pickups from March and November.

She said school groups, community groups and others help keep New Brunswick clean.

“We are always looking for ways to push New Brunswick toward a cleaner, greener future,” said Mayor Jim Cahill in a press release. “Our Department of Public Works conducts numerous programs aimed at keeping our town litter-free throughout the year. These programs include volunteer litter cleanups with local community groups, the annual summer Teen Litter Patrol, and ongoing Block Captain programs. It is through programs like Clean Communities that we are able to keep our streets, open space, recreation areas and township grounds clear of litter and debris.”

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

The mayors of Woodbridge, Piscataway, Rahway, Hillside, Paterson and Bloomfield, as well as officials and representatives from several other municipalities, took the stage and posed for photos with their oversized ceremonial checks.

The funding that was distributed on Wednesday was generated through a tax on manufacturers, wholesalers or distributors of 15 categories of litter-generating products in New Jersey.

Grant amounts are based on population, housing units and miles of municipally owned roadways. In addition, penalties collected from enforcement of the single-use plastic law will also be allocated to the NJCCC fund.

"New Brunswick has consistently been one of the top municipalities in the state in regard to fighting litter," said Gemenden.

"We work closely with New Brunswick to ensure that state funds are continually maximized to develop and implement anti-litter education and programming in the township, as well as to coordinate local clean-ups,” she said. “We are confident that New Brunswick will use the funding this year in a smart, strategic way in 2024 to further expand the Clean Communities mission.”

Seth Hackman of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the Clean Communities Council, ticked off some of the amazing ways their partnership has helped make the state cleaner and greener over the past eight years.

More than 350,000 volunteers have participated in more than 270,000 cleanups, working on nearly 600,000 miles and more than 1.6 million acres of land, he said. More than 500,000 tons of debris has been collected and more than 50,000 litter citations and violations have been issued.

“Just to say again, because it’s such an amazing statistic, New Jersey has eliminated over 13 billion single-use plastic bags from grocery stores alone from our environment over the past years,” Hackman said.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net