Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It’s a common phrase used by recycling advocates, but officials at the Mercer County Improvement Authority also use it in developing programs for their communities.
MCIA executive director Phillip Miller and Daniel G. Napoleon, the MCIA’s chief of recycling, outlined the details of those programs for the West Windsor Township Council on October 4 to give the council a closer look at the programs they offer.
The MCIA handles a total of 300,000 tons of trash county-wide each year, Miller told the council. At the same time, it has developed programs aimed at reducing that tonnage, which can save money for each of the county’s towns in the long run.
With regard to its “reusing” efforts, Millers said the MCIA has developed a website called MercerMAX.org, a forum that allows county residents to register for free to post items they no longer want. Others can search the site for things they need, and they can make an exchange without having to dump their unwanted items in the trash.
Among its efforts when it comes to recycling, the Improvement Authority partners with the NJ Green Communities and holds electronics disposal collections and household chemical collections multiple times throughout the year, Miller said. Officials also developed a small business curbside collection program and give away recycling bins for free to encourage their use.
Next on the agenda, MCIA officials are working on developing an organic and food waste program.
Specifically in West Windsor, the township has switched to the single-stream recycling collection in 2010, said Miller, which saved the township 20 percent on costs in recycling. The move is estimated to save the township $177,000 over three years.
Miller discussed the possibilities for organic recycling collections in the future, but said that they are hard to implement. Officials in Mercer County are looking at ways to implement an organic collection or composting requirements, though none have been implemented along the entire East Coast.
