Recycling Coordinators Meeting

September 30, 2025 5-County Recycling Coordinators Meeting, 9:30 am – 12:30 pm

New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA)

Meeting Attendees Received (sign-in sheet is provided at the bottom of this page)

This meeting was hosted by:

Bergen County Utilities Authority (BCUA)
Essex County Utilities Authority (ECUA)
Hudson County Improvement Authority (HCIA)
Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (MCMUA)
Passaic County

Meadowlands Environment Center, Auditorium, Two DeKorte Park Plaza, Lyndhurst, NJ 07071

Approved CRP Credits: 2.5 Classroom

Approved CPWM Credits: 1.5 Government & 1 Management (course #17744)

Agenda

WELCOME and INTRODUCTIONS

Wayne DeFeo, Essex County’s Solid Waste & Recycling Coordinator, began introductions and welcomed the following County Coordinators:

Angela Bonnano-Lynch from the BCUA
Amanda Nesheiwat from the HCIA
Anthony Marrone from the MCMUA
Nina Seiden from Passaic County

NJSEA PROGRAMS FOR THE PUBLIC – Francisco Artigas, NJSEA

Francisco Artigas briefly gave a general characterization of the Meadowlands, which included:

It’s geography and solid waste disposal history
Specifying there are no current operating landfills
An old baler building will be repurposed into a Class A recycling facility (through a partnership between the Meadowlands and Interstate Waste Services)

RECYCLING MARKET UPDATE – Michael Mastrangelo, Interstate Waste Services

The speaker gave an NJ recycling market outlook for the fourth quarter of 2025. His presentation included the following summaries:

Key NJ Facts
Policy and legislative drivers
Market and commodity trends
Risks and upside scenarios
Strategic recommendations
Key factors to watch
Q4 2025 Forecast

NJDEP RECYCLING PROGRAM UPDATE – Director Seth Hackman & Assistant Director Dana Lawson, NJDEP Division of Sustainable Waste Management

Director Seth Hackman gave updates on the following topics:

Website
Data Access
Plastics Law
Food Waste

Assistant Director Dana Lawson then gave updates on the following topics:

Lithium Batteries
Class B Recycling
Solar Panels
E-Waste
Food Waste

NJDEP US EPA REGION 2’s SUSTAINABLE MATERIAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, Building a Circular Economy from Region 2: Sustainable materials management and Pollution – Rachel Chaput, USEPA

Rachel Chaput discussed recycling as part of the bigger picture within solid waste management. Specifically, she mentioned:

How recycling has bipartisan support nationwide
Efforts to support a circular economy in Region 2 (i.e. food waste reduction grant opportunities)
Congressional reports are in progress (i.e. batteries, critical minerals, built environment, textiles)

EV Incentives – Ed Howell, PSEG

PSEG can provide help with infrastructure, i.e., getting power to your site. PSEG also has a fleet advisory program for people considering these types of projects.

NJ Clean Cities Coalition ELECTRIC VEHICLE/EQUIPMENT DEMONSTRATION – Ed Howell, PSEG

EVs were parked outside for attendees to view, and they were given half an hour from 11 to 11:30 to see them. They included a garbage truck, F-150, and a mustang.

FOOD WASTE/TABLE to TABLE – Julie Kinner, Table to Table (Saddle Brook)

Currently, Table to Table operates in five counties, working towards bridging the gap by rescuing healthy perishable food and delivering it to people who need it. They have six refrigerated trucks with drivers, over three hundred volunteers, have many food donor partners, and they work with anywhere there is wasted food. It was highlighted that they:

Try to match donations with the right agency
Recognize the environmental impact of their work
Need for support & they never accepted federal funding
Discussed ways to partner
Introduced the i-rescue volunteer app

REPAIR CAFÉ – Brian Hanson-Harding, Rutherford Repair Café

Brian Hanson-Harding, a member of the Rutherford Green Team, organized a repair café to keep trash out of the waste stream and build community. A repair café is a community event where people can get things repaired for free. The website repaircafegs.org lists at least seven regular cafes in NJ, and has a starter kit that was helpful for the speaker in starting his repair café. Reasons he discussed to hold a repair café include:

Reducing waste
Tapping into people skills
Sharing knowledge
Building a sense of community

The speaker also went over the objects that get repaired, as well as the processes of setting up and having clients sign in / a waiver. The speaker then discussed various things that were needed at a repair café like outlets, bathrooms, etc. and venue considerations, as we;as having repair coaches. He recommended keeping track of different repair types, getting feedback, and recruiting high school students in to learn how to make repairs themselves.

AUTOMATED SOLID WASTE/RECYCLING COLLECTION – Hassan Brown, Borough of Paramus

Hassan Brown discussed his experience implementing automated collection in Paramus, stating the hardest part was getting buy in from the council. An initial hurdle included people worried about losing jobs, but no one lost their jobs; responsibilities shifted. Costs include trucks and bins if the municipality provides them. Regarding health and safety, work compensation claims dropped but some drivers developed wrist issues from the repetitive joystick motion.

He provided a summary of recommendations including: