Camden County Freeholder Honored for Sustainability Work

Sustainable New Jersey has recognized Camden County Freeholder Michelle Gentek for leading the effort to get the county’s 37 municipalities registered with Sustainable Jersey, and for her work to create an environmental park in Gloucester Township.

Gentek was named the organization’s May Hero.

“I am honored to receive this distinction,” Gentek, liaison to Sustainable Camden County, said. “I invite all Camden County residents to join me in making a commitment to a more sustainable Camden County and greener practices for the future.”

Gentek is leading an effort to transform an eight-acre site at the county’s Lakeland Campus in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township into a center for community gardening and environmental education.

A series of vacant greenhouses on the site have been invigorated and filled with plants. Classes will be held in collaboration with the Rutgers Master Gardeners program on topics such as what ornamental plants are best to grow in this region, how to grow and maintain a vegetable garden and how to integrate pest management (IPM) techniques into your garden.

The Environmental Park also contains a Sensory Garden, a tool library and the Camden County BikeShare program.

“The county has completed transformational projects over the last two years that are leading the way in sustainability throughout the state,” Gentek said. “Whether it’s utilizing our greenhouses to grow our own flowers for the park system or installing solar fields at the CCMUA, we are progressively moving forward.”

Future plans include the first certified outdoor classroom in South Jersey and a Christmas tree farm, where residents can ‘rent’ a tree during the holidays and return it to be replanted, thus reducing the waste of cutting a tree that might end up in a landfill.

Gentek has also worked with with the board to facilitate significant energy efficiency upgrades in buildings throughout the county and introduced an LED lighting initiative that is saving taxpayers’ money while reducing the county’s carbon footprint.

Sustainable Jersey is a certification program for municipalities and K-12 schools that began in 2009.

Over 75 percent of the 565 municipalities in the state are already participating in the program.

The attached image of Michelle Gentek was posted on sustainable.camdencounty.com.