Parsippany Awarded $111K Grant To Reduce Waste, Promote Recycling

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Parsippany-Troy Hills Township is one of a handful of New Jersey municipalities to get more than $100,000 from the state to support waste reduction and recycling programs.

In total, New Jersey is awarding nearly $16.2 million in grants to communities this year, the Department of Environmental Protection said. The grants were given based on each municipality's recycling performance in 2021.

Parsippany will receive $111,240 as part of the grant, officials said.

Municipalities must use the money for various recycling initiatives that can include programs like sponsoring household hazardous waste collection, providing recycling receptacles in public places, or maintaining leaf composting.

The Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority has several household hazardous waste collections coming up in Parsippany, the first of which is May 18.

In 2021, Parsippany had an overall recycling rate of 85 percent, which was much higher than the state average of 54 percent. The township generated 98,428.58 tons of total material in 2021, and recycled 48,267.40 tons.

Morris County had an overall recycling rate of 59 percent in 2021.

Grants are awarded through the state’s Recycling Enhancement Act and are funded through a $3 per ton surcharge on trash disposed statewide at solid waste facilities.

NJDEP then allocates that money back to municipalities, based on how much recycling each community reports accomplishing during a particular calendar year.

Overall in 2021, there was a statewide decrease in the recycling rate compared with 2020 data, and more trash disposed of.

The DEP said that New Jersey generated more than 22 million tons of waste material in 2021 — about 12 million tons of which was recycled, and 10 tons disposed. That represents a 54 percent recycling rate, a slight decrease from the year before.

Solid waste includes municipal waste, plus construction debris and other types of non-municipal waste.

When looking just at waste and recycling collected at the municipal level, the state generated just over 10 tons of material in 2021, according to the DEP report.

Municipalities reported disposing about 6.3 million tons of municipal solid waste, and recycling more than 3.7 million tons. That represents a municipal solid waste recycling rate of 37 percent.