{"id":3061,"date":"2012-10-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-10-17T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/12_0121\/"},"modified":"2024-12-10T10:12:57","modified_gmt":"2024-12-10T15:12:57","slug":"12_0121","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/12_0121\/","title":{"rendered":"New Jerseys Recycling Leaders and Recycling Poetry Contest Winners Honored at Annual Event in Neptune (12\/P121)"},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tr bordercolor='#000099'>\n<td valign='top' nowrap bgcolor='#ffffff' class='newshead'>\n<p><b>FOR               IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>               <\/b> October 17, 2012<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td align='right' valign='top' nowrap bgcolor='#ffffff' class='newshead'>\n<p><b>Contact:<\/b>            Lawrence  Hajna (609) 984-1795<br \/>             Lawrence  Ragonese (609) 292-2994<br \/>             Bob  Considine (609) 984-1795<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign='top'>\n<td colspan='2' class='newsmain'>\n<tr valign='top'>\n<td colspan='2' class='newsmain'>\n<tr valign='top'>\n<td colspan='2' class='newsmain'>\n<div align='center'>\n<p align='center'><strong>NEW JERSEY&rsquo;S  RECYCLING LEADERS AND RECYCLING POETRY CONTEST WINNERS HONORED<\/strong><br \/>                 <strong>AT ANNUAL EVENT IN  NEPTUNE<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong> (12\/P121) TRENTON &#8211; <\/strong>A  Woodcliff Lake student who worked to recycle plastic bottles at his middle school,  a Passaic County firm that made a major investment in developing single-stream  recycling facilities, and a statewide organization that is the state&rsquo;s leading recycling  advocate are &nbsp;among the businesses,  organizations and individuals honored today at the state&#39;s annual Recycling  Symposium and Awards Luncheon.<\/p>\n<p>Jacob  Sperber, Atlantic Coast Fibers, and the Association of New Jersey Recyclers  were among the winners of awards during the luncheon at the Jumping Brook  Country Club in Neptune. Fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students from across  the state also were honored for writing poems about recycling. Students wrote  about ways their families recycle, why they think recycling is important, and how  recycling preserves resources and protects the environment.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Recycling  should be an integral part of everyone&rsquo;s life. As we celebrate the 25th  anniversary of the state&rsquo;s mandatory recycling law, recycling still remains one  of the best ways for all of us to be actively engaged in protecting the  environment and our natural resources,&rdquo; said DEP Commissioner Bob Martin. &ldquo;This  year&#39;s award recipients are leaders who should serve as inspiration for all of  us to recycle as much as possible at home and at work.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>               New  Jersey became the first state to require recycling with the passage of the New  Jersey Statewide Mandatory Source Separation and Recycling Act in 1987. Today,  the Christie Administration has developed policies to boost current recycling  rates and adapt recycling strategies to match modern lifestyles. <\/p>\n<p>The  DEP, as part of that effort, requires counties to achieve recycling tonnage  targets and, with local and county partners, promotes public participation in  recycling programs.<\/p>\n<p>Awards  were presented during the annual New Jersey Recycling Symposium and Awards  Luncheon, co-sponsored by the DEP and the Association of New Jersey Recyclers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>INSTITUTION<\/strong><br \/>               <strong>WINNER: Samsel  Upper Elementary School<\/strong><br \/>               The  administration, staff and students at Samsel Upper Elementary School in Sayreville  have spearheaded a bottle cap recycling program, a composter recycling project  and a waste-free lunch program. As a result of the waste-free lunch program,  students are using more reusable containers and recycling their paper bags. The  faculty also uses reusable lunch bags, coffee mugs and thermoses. &nbsp;The school&rsquo;s recycling efforts are paying off,  with a dramatic increase in the amount of paper and cardboard recycled.<\/p>\n<p>   <strong>GOVERNMENT<\/strong><br \/>   <strong>WINNER: Vernon  Township<\/strong><br \/>               The  Vernon Township Department of Public Works took over the daily operations of the  local recycling center, previously run by outside vendors. Under DPW  management, the center is saving money on operating costs while generating revenues  from the sale of recyclables. <br \/>               At  the same time, operating hours remained the same, and the basic recyclables  continued to be accepted, with the addition of other items such as scrap metal,  white goods, consumer electronics, used motor oil, batteries, rigid plastics,  and used clothing. In 2010 with outside vendor management, Vernon Township  recycled 623 tons; in 2011, with DPW management, they recycled 821 tons&mdash;an  increase of 32 percent.<\/p>\n<p>   <strong>RISING STAR<\/strong><br \/>   <strong>WINNER: Jacob  Sperber<\/strong><br \/>               As  a student at the Woodcliff Middle School in Woodcliff Lake, Jacob Sperber noted  that hundreds of water bottles were being tossed into the trash on a weekly  basis. He displayed leadership by developing a plan that included outreach,  incentives, assemblies, and contests to educate fellow students about the need  to recycle bottles. His dedication eventually resulted in the recycling of thousands  of bottles. As a result of his work, the school expanded recycling efforts to  include hundreds of pounds of batteries. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>EDUCATOR\/EDUCATIONAL  PROGRAM<\/strong><br \/>               <strong>WINNER: Bergen  County Utilities Authority-Education Program<\/strong><br \/>               The  Bergen County Utilities Authority has developed a Recycling Discovery Box  program and school curriculum supplement to help schools increase students&rsquo;  environmental awareness at school, in the home and in their community. The  Recycling Discovery Box contains 25 items that complement the lessons contained  in the curriculum supplement, which contains information on recycling and waste  reduction, and comes complete with lesson plans, handouts and worksheets. <\/p>\n<p>   <strong>RECYCLING INDUSTRY<\/strong><br \/>   <strong>WINNER: Atlantic  Coast Fibers<\/strong><br \/>               Committed  to a &ldquo;zero-landfill society,&rdquo; Atlantic Coast Fibers has operated in Passaic for  more than 80 years. &nbsp;The company recently  made aggressive investments in new equipment to create a modern and efficient  single-stream recycling facility capable of sorting 25 to 30 tons per hour of recyclables.  Through the use of advanced automated equipment, the company can handle 30,000  to 40,000 tons per month of commingled containers and single stream recyclables.<\/p>\n<p>   <strong>SOURCE REDUCTION\/RESOURCE MANAGEMENT<\/strong><br \/>   <strong>Sunny Delight  Beverages Co.<\/strong><br \/>               Sunny  Delight Beverages Co.&rsquo;s Dayton plant is proud of its zero waste to landfill  achievement. The company maximizes recycling by conducting waste audits,  researching recycling facilities, and following a recycling protocol that focuses  first on reducing waste, then on reuse, and finally on maximizing recycling.  Waste that can&rsquo;t be reused or recycled goes to cogeneration. The plant has  increased recycling by 54 percent rom 2007 to the present. The plant buys only recycled  paper, and all its cardboard and bottle purchases have recycled content. The facility  allows employees with limited curbside recycling to bring their recyclables to  the site for inclusion in its recycling streams.<\/p>\n<p><strong>COMMISSIONER&rsquo;S  AWARD<\/strong><br \/>               <strong>Association of New  Jersey Recyclers (ANJR)<\/strong><br \/>               The  Association of New Jersey Recyclers is a non-profit network that serves as the  voice of recycling in New Jersey through education, advocacy and the promotion  of professional standards. ANJR works with legislators and regulators and has  consistently sponsored and offered a wide variety of educational programs and  resources on such diverse topics as yard waste composting, source reduction,  per container rates, and food waste recycling. ANJR has served as an advocate  for market development, promoting procurement of recycled products, identifying  uses of non-traditional recyclable materials, identifying long-term funding for  recycling education and programs, and promoting electronics waste management. <\/p>\n<p>   <strong>POETRY CONTEST WINNERS<\/strong><br \/>   <strong>GRADE 4:<\/strong> Alex Conklin, Beach  Haven Elementary School, Beach Haven; Elizabeth Piatkowski, Saint Peter School,  Point Pleasant Beach; Calvin Lin, Dawes Avenue School, Somers Point;<br \/>               Maggie  Boyle, Horace Mann School, Bayonne.<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRADE 5:<\/strong> Carley Swanson, Mary  E. Volz Middle School, Runnemede; Celina Peralta<br \/>               Our  Lady of Mount Carmel School, Tenafly; Ruth Dorilas, New York Avenue School<br \/>               Atlantic  City; Drashti Lapsiwala, New York Avenue School, Atlantic City<\/p>\n<p><strong>GRADE 6:<\/strong> Meaghan Imossi, St.  Joseph School, Mendham; Christina Giordano, St. Cassian School<br \/>               Montclair;  Diana Baxter, St. Francis Academy, Union City; Rachel Walters, Queen of Peace  Elementary School, North Arlington<\/p>\n<p><strong>SPECIAL RECOGNITION:<\/strong> Bernette Lao, Taylor  Abrams, Robert Brink, Tia Kotula, ECLC of New Jersey, Chatham<\/p>\n<tr align='center' valign='top'>\n<td colspan='2'>\n<p align='center'>###<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign='middle'>\n<td height='30' colspan='2'>&nbsp; <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr valign='top'>\n<td colspan='2'>&nbsp;<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 17, 2012 Contact: Lawrence Hajna (609) 984-1795 Lawrence Ragonese (609) 292-2994 Bob Considine (609) 984-1795 NEW JERSEY&rsquo;S RECYCLING LEADERS AND RECYCLING POETRY CONTEST WINNERS HONORED AT ANNUAL EVENT IN NEPTUNE (12\/P121) TRENTON &#8211; A Woodcliff Lake student who worked to recycle plastic bottles at his middle school, a Passaic County firm [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"dep-single.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deptest.nj.gov\/newsrel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}