Some of the items that you should not put in your recycling bin might surprise you. Worse still, placing them there could violate local recycling laws and earn you another surprise–a fine.
The Sierra Club prepared this video as a general guideline, and it is helpful. The problem is that some local recycling laws might grant exceptions–or add even more items to the no-no list.
What’s your experience in your town or county? If it varies from the guidance in the video, tell us about it in the comment section.
Do you think that town-by-town the rules conflict too much and cause unnecessary confusion? Would you prefer a standardized set of what’s legally recyclable and what’s garbage? Click the comment link and tell us your recycling stories.
Rental sign in Belmar, a block from the beach. Mel Evans AP photo
Criticism from some Republican lawmakers met NJ Gov. Phil Murphy’s signing today of a bill to provide tax relief to Jersey shore home renters
By Frank Brill, EnviroPolitics Editor
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy today signed into law (A4814) which seeks to provide relief for many shore homeowners who rent out their properties during the summer. It amends the transient accommodations law, enacted in 2018, to narrow the scope of rentals subject to taxation.
The bill was sent to the governor at the beginning of this summer vacation season. Numerous lawmakers representing shore towns have been urging him ever since to sign it.
In apparent anticipation of criticism over the time it took to act, a news release announcing the signing said:
“The administration conducted a thorough legal and technical review to ensure that the legislation, as written, was not only feasible to implement, but more closely mirrors the original intent, which was to create parity throughout the rental industry by extending the existing tax on hotels and motels to certain short-term rentals, such as those done through online marketplaces.
Republican Senator Declan O’Scanlon of Monmouth County called the signing “way too late.”
“We are in August at this point, summer is nearly over and most of the damage of this ill-conceived aspect of this tax has been done. The Governor and his policy folks need to recognize when something is emergent and do their homework up front, so they’re ready to take action the minute such bills land on his desk. This was a total failure of administrative planning and it likely, needlessly, cost the New Jersey economy millions of dollars.”
Assemblywoman Serena DiMaso, also a Republican, added this zinger: “I’m happy our voices were heard, it’s just unfortunate that the Governor didn’t elect to sign this repeal before he set off for his Italian vacation in July,”
Primary sponsors of the legislation include Democratic Assembly members Joann Downey, John McKeon, John Armato, Bruce Land, Wayne DeAngelo, Eric Houghtaling, Vincent Mazzeo, Nancy Pinkin, Matthew Milam, Valerie Vainieri Huttle, and Senators Vin Gopal and Bob Andrzejczak.
Their joint response was far more positive.
“Over the past several months, we’ve listened to Jersey Shore homeowners – many of whom are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy – who are worried they’ll see far less summer guests this season as a result of the short term rental tax. Summer tourism is the heartbeat of the shore, and this law was never intended to hurt the private homeowners who help it grow and thrive.”
“The bill signed into law today will help property owners who rely on word of mouth, signs, social media and longstanding customers to keep their rentals booked through the summer. It will help shore businesses keep customers flocking to their doors. And it will help tourists afford to have the vacation of their dreams right here at the Jersey Shore,” the sponsors continued.
Are you a Jersey shore property owner who rents during summers? What’s your opinion?Share it in the block below
A glacial outburst at about 6:50 p.m. Monday at the mountain’s South Tahoma Glacier sent debris and boulders as big as pickup trucks flowing down the mountain, said Mount Rainier National Park geologist Scott Beason.
The debris flow registered on seismic monitors and ran for more than 8 miles, Beason said.
Beason suspects warm, sunny weather filled the glacier with melt, rearranged the “internal plumbing” at the glacier’s base, caused water to blast a new channel through the glacier, and then flooded glacial melt into Tahoma Creek.
“The event lasted an hour and had four separate surges,” Beason said of the outburst flooding. “The outlet channel definitely shifted. It picked up a lot of loose material just below the glacier and carried it downstream and mobilized it into a debris flow.”
As the world warms and Mount Rainier’s glaciers thin and retreat over time, these massive debris flows have become a common occurrence on the mountain’s south side. The park is building systems to forecast massive debris flows and send alerts to park staff when they’re triggered, Beason said.
Editor’s Note: The original version of the NJ Spotlight story incorrectly identified the Rev. Ronald Tuff as Rev. Ronald Tubbs.
TOM JOHNSON reports for NJ SPOTLIGHT AUGUST 9, 2019
Climate-change activists fault Murphy administration’s draft plan for not imposing immediate moratorium on fossil-fuel projects
Credit: NJTV News
New Jersey needs a bold and aggressive plan to tackle climate change, but the Murphy administration’s draft energy master plan fails to deliver on the governor’s promises, according to climate-change activists and clean-energy advocates.
In a third public hearing on a draft plan unveiled this past June, many of the speakers faulted the document, primarily for not imposing an immediate moratorium on all fossil-fuel projects in the state that will increase, not reduce, greenhouse-gas emissions contributing to global warming.
The omission threatens to deepen a rift between the environmental community — that largely backed Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, in his gubernatorial bid — over the administration’s reluctance to halt several new natural gas pipelines in New Jersey as well as four new gas-fired power plants. A huge coalition of environmentalists wants an immediate moratorium on all new fossil-fuel projects.
Almost on cue, the PennEast Pipeline project yesterday filed applications with the state Department of Environmental Protection seeking crucial water quality and wetlands permits in New Jersey for its controversial 120-mile new pipeline project from Luzerne County, Pa. to Mercer County. The project is among the more contentious of about nine new pipeline and/or compressor projects pending in the state.
Natural gas: Bridge or gangplank?
“It is disappointing you completely ignored the moratorium issue,’’ said Ted Glick of 350 NJ, sharply criticizing state officials for describing natural gas as a bridge fuel in the draft plan. “Natural gas is not a bridge fuel. It is a gangplank to a catastrophic future.’’SUBSCRIBE TO NJ SPOTLIGHT NEWSLETTERS Today’s Spotlight Weekly Editor’s Picks
Some of those attending yesterday’s Board of Public Utility hearing. NJTV News
“This is no time to think small,’’ agreed Kevin Brown, New Jersey state director of 32BJ SEIU. “The EMP does not think big or bold enough.”
Others defended the plan, saying its goals of 100 percent clean energy by 2050 are not only achievable, but affordable.
“It would be a mistake to view New Jersey’s climate goals as radical, risky or expensive,’’ said Barb Blumenthal, research director for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. She noted that Indiana shifted from providing power to customers from five coal plants to solar, wind and other projects to curb costs to ratepayers by $4 billion over the next two decades.
“We can either embrace clean energy pathways to reduce energy costs and the risks to the globe’s critical climate system, or spend much more money on yesterday’s dirty, unsafe and costly solutions without solving tomorrow’s problems.’’
Others, however, faulted the draft plan as not doing enough to address pollution in environmental justice communities, like Newark, home to a recently built new gas-fired power plant, a garbage incinerator, and one of the nation’s biggest wastewater treatment plants.
Calls for the governor to act
“What we need from the governor is transformational change,’’ said Kim Gaddy, an environmental justice organizer in Newark. Of the pollution that envelops the city, Gaddy said “we can’t escape it.’’ She, and others called for mandatory air-pollution reductions in emissions — from power plants and the 8,000 vehicles coming in and out of the port of Newark daily.
Rev. Ronald Tubbs, a member of GreenFaith, urged the state to set aside dollars to train low-and moderate-income people so they can take advantage of the switch to a green economy, one powered by cleaner technologies like plug-in electric vehicles.
Some speakers argued the state should drop any plans to adopt carbon neutrality proposals, a system they claimed would allow gimmicks to increase greenhouse-gas emissions under the pretense of offsetting the pollution with carbon credits or carbon-capture technology, still not commercially deployable. Others called for a tax on carbon, something this and previous administrations have shied away from.
The overriding message remained, however: Act quickly because the state, as well as the rest of the globe, is running out of time to halt global warming.
Editor’s Note: The Gannett newspaper chain, purchased this week by New Media Investment, but retaining its name, is an important provider of daily news to residents in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware–and especially New Jersey. See the list of its holdings in these four states at the bottom of the following post.
Sections of a USA Today newspaper. GateHouse Media, a chain backed by an investment firm, announced that it is buying USA Today owner Gannett Co. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Rick Edmonds is the media business analyst for Poynter
When GateHouse and its parent company, New Media Investment, completed the deal Monday to acquire Gannett, the expectation was that the GateHouse crew would be running the new company, instituting their systems across the board.
Not so fast.
Two of the top three executives of the merged company (to be called Gannett rather than GateHouse) are from Gannett, including a new operating CEO from outside the industry.
And now that the agreement is public, several executives who I respect tell me that they do not foresee scorched earth for the Gannett papers.
George Stanley, editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, one of Gannett’s largest and most decorated metros, wrote me in an email exchange:
“I tend to be optimistic because each new leadership team has placed a high value on doing great reporting that’s unavailable from other sources and worth the price of a subscription. They’ve encouraged us to continue to be us. Experienced, professional media executives will be in charge of the new Gannett, running it as an independent news company, seeking to build out a business model that supports the reporting of local news essential to our democracy. They’re saying the right things in a way that makes sense. They’re emphasizing the unique combination of national with local markets. They’re looking for growth and see consumer revenue — reader revenue — as a key growth area.”
Like other metro editors — including those at independent papers like the Boston Globe, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Seattle Times — Stanley said he thinks the Journal Sentinel is making good progress on its paid digital subscription base, which could be the cornerstone of stronger business results.
“We’ve learned — thanks to best practices shared by Lenfest, API, Poynter and our Table Stakes colleagues — how important it is to serve and gain that next generation of subscribers. Since we launched our digital circulation growth initiative two years ago, we’ve nearly tripled our digital subscriptions.
“Folks who say digital subscriptions will only work at the national level, due to the success of The (Washington) Post and (The New York) Times, aren’t considering how recently regional news organizations began focusing on growing them — we’re several years behind the Times and Post but on the same trajectory. The Boston Globe started from scratch a few years before us and now makes enough money through digital subscriptions to support one of the nation’s best regional newsrooms.”
Stanley stayed on when Gannett acquired the Journal Sentinel in April 2016. Its staff is now smaller than then, but the Journal Sentinel has not lost its investigative bite. Stanley also speaks with some authority for the industry as vice chair of the American Society of News Editors.
Another of my sources, a former editor who still keeps a close eye on the industry, emailed to suggest I should rethink my prediction in a piece Sunday evening that the Gannett executive team would be washed away.
New Media Investment chairman and CEO Mike Reed has the top job in the new company. But Gannett chief financial officer Alison Engel stays on (GateHouse’s CFO left abruptly in February). And a new Gannett hire, Paul Bascobert, will run the operating company for 250-plus dailies.
Bascobert has deep marketing and publishing experience earlier in his career at Bloomberg and Dow Jones, but not, as far as I can tell, in newspapers. His most recent job was as president of XO Group, a vertical for weddings, which has also operated as The Knot.
I have not been able to schedule an interview with Bascobert (or other busy top execs), but his background fits with a digital transition push and may be a particular match to USA Today sports verticals and others at both companies.
The new company’s choices for other slots on the top management team have not yet been announced. But it may be if Gannett is stronger in a given function, its managers will be assigned the lead.
In writing about completion of the deal yesterday, I failed to mention the financing, including a $1.79 billion loan from Apollo Global Management, a private equity fund, at (ouch) 11.5% interest. Even with the $300 million a year savings Reed expects, interest and principal will be formidable to pay down, while simultaneously reserving capital to invest in new digital revenue streams.
Other big qualifiers for the likely success of the deal would be that both companies reported Monday yet another quarter of deep revenue losses.
Wall Street did not stand up and cheer for the merger, either. New Media shares were down 18.6% for the day and Gannett’s down 7.6%.
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