More recycling rewards
By ROBERT LINNEHAN
The Cherry Hill Sun
12/12/2009

Cherry Hill received a $170,000 grant for the recycling tonnage collected from the township in 2007. The township collected the highest amount of recyclables in the tri-county region and the 10th highest amount in the entire state.

The hefty grant stems from the state Department of Environment Protection divvying out $14.5 million throughout the state to encourage municipalities to increase recycling rates. Mayor Bernie Platt attributed the high tonnage rate to the implementation of the RecycleBank program in 2007. The innovative program, he said, had its pilot program installed into several neighborhoods during that summer. The program was such a success it was installed township wide in the spring of 2008.

Chief of Staff Dan Keashen said the township expects to receive even more grant money for recycling as the totals for the 2008-2009 year start to come in. RecycleBank wasn’t fully installed throughout the township until that year.

“This is going to grow. Our share will grow tremendously once we fall into the years of 2008-2009 because of the exponential increase of RecycleBank,” he said. “This year’s total was only with RecycleBank in 900 homes.”

Cherry Hill hopes to go from the 10th highest recycling municipality in the state to the highest when the RecycleBank numbers start to count for the totals.

It’s been an interesting few weeks for the township, as Cherry Hill was also given an “Innovation” award by the South Jersey League of Municipalities for its RecycleBank program.

“Between receiving a record-high recycling grant from the DEP and certification status from the Sustainable Jersey program, Cherry Hill residents’ tremendous recycling efforts are not going unnoticed,” Platt said. “As long as they continue to be embraced by residents, the township will continue to explore, test and implement innovative ways to reduce our impact on the earth. It’s the right thing to do fiscally and environmentally.” Since its initiation in 2007, Platt said the township has reached a nearly 60 percent recycling rate between its household pickups, electronic-waste recycling drop-off collections, and similar initiatives that are part of Cherry Hill’s Green Action Plan. “We are now recycling more than we’re paying to incinerate,” he said.

The state initiated The Recycling Enhancement Act this year, which significantly increased the amount of grant money available to local governments by creating a recycling enhancement fund through a $3-per-ton surcharge on trash taken to solid-waste disposal facilities – strengthening the incentive to recycle by increasing dumping costs as well as offering more monetary incentives.

The RecycleBank program offers homeowners incentives to increase their recycling rates. RecycleBank provides each home with a special 96-gallon recycle container that is able to monitor exactly how much each home recycles each week by scanning a barcode each time recycling is collected.

The amount recycled by each individual home is translated into RecycleBank Reward Points. The points can then be redeemed for coupons that residents can use to shop at hundreds of participating stores.