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An environmental business news source and outlet in NJ, PA & NY Read More »
An environmental business news source and outlet in NJ, PA & NY Read More »
Caught in a vise between rising operating expenses and shrinking state aid, New Jersey municipalities are scrambling to avoid raising local property taxes.
Some are looking to save money by consolidating services with adjoining towns. Others are trimming staffs, eliminating programs and even implementing four-day work weeks by shutting down town hall on Fridays.
John Haas, Ocean County’s recycling coordinator, has an additional suggestion: Step up enforcement of the state’s mandatory recycling law.
“It currently costs $71 to dump a ton of garbage at the (county) landfill in Manchester Township, and towns get a $17 rebate for every ton of recycled waste they bring to the county’s recycling facility in Stafford Township, ” Haas is quoted as saying in an
Atlantic City Press story.
He noted that, by recycling, towns not only save the tipping fee and but also gain the rebate. “That’s an $88 benefit for a single ton,” he said.
Similar savings are available across the state. But recycling officials statewide complain that private businesses and public institutions, like schools, often ignore state law which requires
the recycling of cans, bottles and paper.
With budgets getting tighter, that could change, as both the private and public sectors look to trim costs and counties and towns step up their recycling enforcement.
How can NJ towns save money? Recycle Read More »
Are New Jersey’s new solar energy credits working? Read More »
Click the links below to view stories for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York–and beyond– that appeared during the past week.
Top environmental & political news – July 21-25 Read More »
If you were interested in our recent post
Reviving the Lackawanna Cutoff (Updated 7/16), you’ll want to check out:
* Last Sunday’s column by (Morristown, NJ) Daily Record editorial page editor Fred Snowflak, and
* A letter-to-the-editor in response to the column from Jefferson Township resident Norman H. Ressler.
The Penn Jersey Rail Coalition is urging letters in support of the revised railway to be sent to the New Jersey Transit. The deadline for such public comment is July 30.
More on the Lackawanna Cutoff proposal Read More »
Several years ago Brent Baker heard that a group of women who called themselves the “Veggie Babes” had driven cross country in a van powered by used cooking oil. That got Baker thinking and the product of that cogitation is today’s Tri-State Biodiesel.
The Manhattan-based company provides city restaurants with free collection of used cooking oil and trap grease. It has that material processed and then offers it for sale as biodiesel that can be burned in most diesel-powered vehicles without modification and as a boiler fuel to heat office buildings and apartments.
The company offers what sounds like a pretty attractive consumer package–free removal of a material that a restaurant owner otherwise would have to pay a waste hauler to remove and the sale of a environmental friendly fuel at a cost generally less than you’d pay for standard diesel at the pump or from your heating oil supplier.
But no business is without its challenges. Baker details some of them, including the high-cost of operating in America’s largest city, in an interesting interview appearing in the Brooklyn-based blog, Gowanus Lounge.
And, despite its ‘green’ credentials, his company has been hurt by recent press accounts linking the biofuel industry to a multitude of evils, including, believe it or not, world hunger.
Baker says these media reports stem from a “corporate smear campaign conducted by a Washington DC public relations firm.” He says that the campaign employs “fuzzy math and anonymous studies to slow the US transition to biofuels, in much the same way that similar campaigns slowed action on global warming for several years. “
To do his part to set the record straight, Baker has set up a Myths and Facts About Biodiesel page on his website.
Baker’s is not the only biofuel venture in the news. Newark Liberty International Airport has announced it has signed an agreement with Gaz Realty which will provide biodiesel at a soon-to-be-built Super Station that also will include a convenience story, car wash, light auto repair and towing service.
MORE:
Setting the Record Straight When It Comes to Biofuels – Queens Ledger 5/22/08
The Changing Face of Biodiesel Production – Biodiesel Magazine
NYC cooking oil fueling vehicles and buildings Read More »