By Katrina Grant
Tabernacle Township has been doing its part to stay green. A recent report shows that Tabernacle placed third per household in Burlington County when it came to recycling. In 2010, Tabernacle Township recycled 868 tons of paper, bottles and cans combined.
“That is up 15 percent from the previous year,” Mayor Kim Brown said.
The amount that each township and household recycles is tied to the economy. The more printing and buying of products, the more people will recycle.
“It’s hard to determine what the numbers will be like for this year, because it is tied to the economy,” Ann Moore, County Recycling Coordinator said.
Burlington County is the only county in the state that funds recycling. The county has many ways that it promotes and helps residents to recycle. Tabernacle Township participates in the county cart program for paper collection and the Recycle Bank Rewards program to give back to residents and encourage recycling.
“We put out a newsletter in four publications a year,” Moore said. “We print brochures for customers in each town and put inserts into residents’ tax bills about recycling. We also hold special events for paper shredding and electronic recycling.”
In Burlington County, there is a freeholder-sponsored initiative to get every township set up with paper carts. With the paper carts, residents are able to recycle all types of paper together. The county will match half the cost to implement it, and the townships have six years to pay it back. All townships, except Shamong, have the paper carts.
“This increases paper recycling by 100 pounds per home, per year,” Moore said. “That is a big boost and it is more convenient.”
Recycling also saves Tabernacle Township and Burlington County money in landfill fees. Tabernacle Township saves $68,890 in landfill fees a year because of recycling.
“The program saves $3.2 million county wide based on recycling,” Moore said.
