The state Department of Environmental Protection has honored 10 businesses, organizations, and individuals with 2024 Recycling Champion Awards for their noteworthy sustainability accomplishments that are inspiring others to reduce waste, reuse and repurpose items.
The honorees include NJBIA member PSE&G, a major energy company recycling or reusing nearly all the waste it generates; a nonprofit organization reducing food waste by distributing recovered meals to local families in need; a middle school fighting plastic waste through an educational campaign and recycling thousands of pounds of plastic; and a business that has kept over 10 million pounds of secondhand clothing out of landfills.
The awards ceremony was held Wednesday at the Jumping Brook Country Club in Neptune in conjunction with the annual recycling symposium hosted by the Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR).
“Since 1987, when New Jersey became the first state to require recycling, our state has consistently delivered forward-looking solutions to improve recycling programs and enhance sustainable practices,” said DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “We would not be a national leader if not for those constantly seeking to refine and innovate how we recycle.”
According to the most recent data, New Jersey achieved an overall recycling rate of 54%. Using recycled materials to create new products generally uses less energy than processing raw materials, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Additionally, reusing or repurposing old items reduces waste going into landfills, which emit methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Reducing the amount of organic matter in landfills, such food waste, wood, and paper products is key to cutting the state’s methane emissions.
The 2024 Recycling Award winners, organized by category, include:
Business: Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G)
In 2023, PSE&G reused over 2,500 tons of timber wetland mats, which historically would have been sent to a landfill. In addition, the company has kept tons of reusable items out of the trash through donations and provides recycling buckets to its mobile workforce trucks to assist in sorting recyclables in the field.
Government: Old Bridge Township
In addition to curbside recyclables, Old Bridge Township collects many non-traditional recyclable materials such as mattresses, box springs, concrete, appliances, propane tanks, and more. The township also holds two paper shredding events each year and promotes its recycling programs in numerous ways – at public events, via the Recycle Coach app, the township website, a recycling calendar and more.
Leadership: Sustainable Maple Shade
Sustainable Maple Shade runs several unique recycling and reuse programs that go beyond traditional recycling and set an example for others to follow. These programs include a Halloween Costume Swap, a Trash to Treasure Halloween Candy wrapper collection, and broken holiday lights collection. Sustainable Maple Shade also participates in the NexTrex Recycling Challenge to recycle plastic film and promotes its recycling and reuse programs at numerous public events.
Gary Sondermeyer (Former DEP Chief of Staff)
Sondermeyer has played a prominent role in shaping New Jersey’s recycling and sustainability policies. During his 30-year public career, he served as DEP’s chief of staff for 10 years, assistant commissioner for the department’s core permitting programs, and spent most of his time within the Solid Waste and Recycling Program, where he served as director.
Rising Star: Share My Meals
Share My Meals is a Princeton-based nonprofit organization that fights food insecurity and the environmental impacts of food waste by recovering and delivering healthy meals in local communities. Surplus, complete meals are recovered from corporate cafeterias and other food service providers and distributed to local families in need. In 2023, Share My Meals recovered 62,000 meals that otherwise would have been disposed of as trash.
Outstanding Educator/Educational Program: Riverside Middle School
Riverside Middle School in Burlington County participated in the NexTrex Recycling Challenge to recycle 2,375 pounds of plastic film and, because of its comprehensive educational campaign, achieved third place among all challenge participants and first place in the Mid-Atlantic region. In addition, the school expanded its program into the business community and now helps other schools get started with their own programs.
Recycling Industry: Helpsy
Helpsy is a textile reuse and recycling company in Eatontown that accepts old clothing, shoes, and other materials. In 2023, Helpsy collected over 12.3 million pounds of old clothing and textiles, which represented an 18% increase over the previous year. Helpsy is actively involved in educating the public on this issue.
Source Reduction, Resource Management/Sustainability: Booksmiles
Booksmiles is a nonprofit organization in Pennsauken dedicated to keeping used books out of the waste stream and getting them into the hands of teachers, as well as students in need. Booksmiles now recovers 94 tons of used books per month. The organization provides the recovered books for free to all and even sends books overseas to impoverished countries.
Morris and Sussex Counties’ Boat Shrink Wrap Recycling Programs
Morris and Sussex Counties’ Boat Shrink Wrap Recycling programs diverted many tons of contaminant-free, recyclable plastic material from being landfilled. The program was well received by the local boating community and continues to grow. The Lake Hopatcong Foundation, Roxbury Clean Communities, and the recycler UltraPoly Corporation are other key partners. A dedicated educational campaign was developed to promote the program.
Volunteer Citizen: Linda Weih
In 2023, Linda Weih participated in the NexTrex Recycling Challenge to collect plastic bags and film for recycling in her hometown of Delanco. Weih volunteers for multiple community groups in town and registered each of them with the program. Weih collected the plastics from each group and made over 50 trips to deliver more than 2,600 pounds of material to the recycling center.
