Wildwood endorsed a plan to move the city to single stream recycling, rather than separating plastic, glass, and paper, at the commissioner’s meeting on June 13.
Mayor Ernie Troiano said the plan was pitched at the Cape May County Conference of Mayors meeting June 8 and that mayors there “overwhelmingly endorsed” single stream. “This should be good news to all property owners,” Troiano said. “No more separations of plastic, glass, and paper, everything goes into one pile.”
After Troiano spoke about the plan at the meeting, he and fellow commissioners Pete Byron and Tony Leonetti passed a unanimous resolution supporting the county’s decision to move to single stream recycling.
“We all are by nature lazy, and this way we don’t have to separate,” Troiano said.
Atlantic County, along with other counties throughout the state, have already made the switch to single stream recycling, Troiano said. He added that the Cape May County is probably the last to go to single stream because the equipment necessary for single stream recycling is expensive, and the equipment the county used previously was still in working condition. Now, it is time to replace that equipment, Troiano said, so the Municipal Utilities Authority has pitched single stream to the county’s municipalities.
“Single stream, even though you might think this is going to create a bigger problem because you are combining your paper products and glass and plastic products together, they are actually estimating that it will increase recycling by 24- 27 percent,” Troiano said.
“Communities where they have gone from double to single stream have increased dramatically,” he added.
Troiano said that switching to this form of recycling should reduce the city’s costs in trash pickup and recycling costs.
“Instead of two trucks; one picking plastic and glass and one picking up paper, it will be one truck picking it all (up),” he said.
Cape May County MUA will be getting the equipment, and will notify municipalities when single stream will begin, Troiano said.
“I think it’s safe to say that this is definitely the recycling of the future,” he said.
North Wildwood City Council and Wildwood Crest Borough Commissioners also endorsed transitioning to single stream at their most recent public meetings.
“It’s a win-win for everybody,” Bill Henfey, mayor of North Wildwood said. “It’s a lot easier on the people to do it, and will save the city a lot of money.”
Christie Rotondo can be emailed at
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