Beyond the Bin Event & Household Hazardous Waste Event on June 2nd – County of Union

In Conjunction With Household Hazardous Waste Event

In light of the success that Union County had last fall with the first Beyond the Bin event, the Union County Board of County Commissioners will be holding another Beyond the Bin event this spring. This event will be held on Sunday, June 2nd from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.at UCNJ, Union College of Union County NJ, located at 1033 Springfield Avenue in Cranford. This event will be held in conjunction with Union County’s next Household Hazardous Waste event.

“As we continue our commitment to sustainability and waste reduction, Union County is proud to announce our second Beyond the Bin event,” said Commissioner Chairwoman Kimberly-Palmieri-Mouded. “Building on the success of last fall’s initiative, we are expanding our efforts to address challenges in recycling and provide residents with convenient solutions. Together, we can turn waste into opportunities for a greener, more vibrant community.”

The County of Union understands that several challenges within the current recycling program still exist. Some residents may be unaware that certain items, like plastic film that packages paper towels or water bottles, an old fax machine or broken computer for instance, or unused or discarded vegetables and other food products can be recycled. Others are unsure of where to take items to be recycled, and may end up throwing them in the trash. Furthermore, with New Jersey’s highly successful ban of single use plastic bags well underway, we now have a surplus of reusable cloth bags piling up in homes, cars, and garages that residents just don’t know what to do with.

On average, the US alone has been noted to discard upwards of 34 billions of pounds of textile waste each year (Lundberg and Devoy, 2022). That is around 100 pounds of waste per person each year! Instead of throwing this material in the trash, residents can now give it a second life at this event.

Furthermore, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that in 2019, 66 million tons of wasted food was generated in the food retail, food service, and residential sectors, and most of this waste (about 60%) was sent to landfills (https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/food-material-specific-data). Union County is making an effort, through this event, to help curtail this food waste trend and send the food to the Waste Management CORe facility in Elizabeth (www.nj.gov/dep/dshw/food-waste-recycling-law/wm_core_overview.pdf), where it will be used to make renewable energy from the food waste collected.

Union County’s Beyond the Bin recycling event has partnered with the organizations MRM http://www.mrmrecycling.com, Helpsy www.helpsy.co, Waste Management www.wm.com/ and GoaTote Inc. https://goatote.com/ in the collection of the following items:

Covered Electronic Devices

Desktop or personal computers, computer monitors, portable computers, desktop fax machines, monitors, printers, tablets/e-readers, and televisions

Plastic Film

Clean, dry plastic bags, bubble wrap, Ziplock bags, dry-cleaning bags, newspaper sleeves, ice bags, cereal box liners, bread bags, produce bags, case overwrap (i.e. a case of bottled water)

Clothing/ Textiles

All textiles in any condition. Stains, rips, tears are okay as long as they are dry and odorless. Textiles includes all shirts, pants, skirts, sweaters, pajamas, jackets, winter coats, rain coats, shoes, accessories, handbags, backpacks, household linens, towels, sneakers, boots, etc

Reusable Shopping Bags (non-plastic)

Cloth, canvas, cotton, #5 woven and non-woven shopping bags

Food Waste Recycling

Produce; Meat, Fish and Poultry, Dairy; Bread, Pasta, Rice, Grains; Coffee Grounds

Styrofoam

For residents interested in composting at home, we have partnered with BrandBuilders LLC in making backyard composters, rain barrels, and more available for purchase online and pick up at the event. For more information on composting materials for your home or to make a purchase, please visit us at www.union.compostersale.com/

For a complete list of all acceptable items and materials for this event, please visit www.ucnj.org/recycling/. Union County’s Beyond the Bin recycling initiative is brought to you by the Union County Board of Commissioners, in collaboration with the Union County Bureau of Recycling and Planning and the Union County Department of Public Works.

If you have any additional questions or would like more information regarding this and other recycling events and services in Union County, please call 908-654-9890 or visit www.ucnj.org/recycling/.