RECYCLING: IMPROVING OUR ENVIRONMENT
Thanks to the cooperation of the people who live in Middlesex County, the MCIA and its 16 municipal partners operate one of the most successful recycling programs in New Jersey.

Middlesex County has been named the top Recycling County in the Sate, according to the latest data from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection with a recycling rate of 62.3%, the county ranked no. 1 among the 21 counties for a third time since 1995, the first year the data was compiled. This is the ninth time since 1995 that the county has met or exceeded the State's 60% recycling goal.

People here understand that recycling protects the environment and saves taxpayer dollars, and they are willing to work together toward those two goals. Almost 100,000 households and small businesses participate in the MCIA curbside pick-up program.

Under state law, all 25 towns in Middlesex County operate recycling programs. In 1995, the MCIA created a shared-services partnership for curbside collection which offered municipalities savings and subsidies. To date, 16 towns are participating in the MCIA’s recycling program; the other towns elected to stay on their own.

All municipalities participate in the MCIA’s yard waste program. The MCIA chips the brush and oversees the composting of leaves, but each individual municipality decides what material gets picked up and sets its own collection schedule.

All residents are encouraged to participate in the Household Hazardous Waste, Paint Drop-Off, Tire Recycling and Electronics Recycling collection programs offered by the MCIA, the Middlesex County Division of Solid Waste Management and the individual municipalities.

Since we began the recycling partnership in 1995, the MCIA and the residents of Middlesex County have: