In 2016, West Windsor spent $1.9 million to dispose of garbage (first the removal, then landfill at about $100 per ton). It is 8 percent of the municipal portion of our property tax, and one-wuarter of it can be saved by the promotion and practice of grasscycling. Or, seen another way, we can reduce approximately 2 percent of our municipal property tax by simply leaving grass clippings in the lawn.
Currently, our grass clippings are collected together with household trash and they can account up to one quarter of the total trash weight. Grasscycling, on the other hand, is a practice that leaves grass clippings on the lawn to decompose quickly and in turn, fertilize the lawn. East Windsor has a good description of grasscycling’s benefits.
Among Mercer County townships, West Windsor is one of five municipalities that do not presently promote/practice grasscycling. We, and these other four townships, therefore, spend 20 percent more to dispose of our garbage.
Stabilizing the municipal portion of our property tax has always been the goal of our administration. Perhaps we can promote/practice grasscycling in West Windsor in 2018 to limit any increase to our municipal taxes burden in 2019? I would like to help achieve this goal as a council member of West Windsor.
Furthermore, grasscycling saves each household an annual $60 fertilization cost, 40 percent of your lawn-care time, and perhaps also someone’s back from having to collect and bag the grass clippings, then move them to the garbage can. I would like to present this tax/expense/time saving as a New Year gift to all West Windsor residents.
— Yan Mei Wang, West Windsor
