Cinnaminson Gets $30K Recycling Grant

Cinnaminson has received nearly $30,000 in grant money from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to help with recycling efforts.

In total, New Jersey towns received more than $13 million.

"The recycling grant money is used to educate our residents in the community about the benefits of recycling," said Frank Locantore, Cinnaminson township administrator. 

The state's recycling grant program is funded by a $3 per ton surcharge on trash disposed at solid waste facilities. The grant money distributed to Cinnaminson and other towns this year is based on the recycling successes local governments demonstrated in 2010.

Locantore said the money specifically targets young people in the community, "to get them into good habits early."

The grant money helps the district's Make a Splash Foundation and also provides books on recycling to the middle school students here.

The money also goes to help fund municipal clean-up days and for recycling equipment.

"The township is committed to recycle whenever and wherever possible," Locantore said. "It's a benefit to the community and to our enviroment, and it's the right thing to do."

In 2010, New Jersey reached a 40-percent municipal solid waste or recycling rate for the first time since 1998. That same year, the state generated 9.8 million tons of municipal solid waste, of which 3.9 million tons were recycled, for a 40 percent municipal solid waste recycling rate, an increase from the 2009 rate of 37.1 percent. 

Cinnaminson's grant is for $29,201.15.