Upper Dublin Township once again has earned a significant state grant as a reward for its recycling efforts.
The township recently received a $124,283 Recycling Performance Grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Since 1988, the Recycling Performance Grant Program has awarded funding to municipalities based on the amount of materials recycled.
The grant the township received was based on its recycling figures from 2009, in which it collected 4,581.2 tons of recyclables, according to a press release.
This grant continues Upper Dublin’s track record of receiving large grants from the Recycling Performance Grant Program.
Last year, the township received a $123,864 grant. The township has received a grant each year since 2001, accumulating a total of $853,000, according to Mary Anne Fennell, the township’s recycling coordinator.
The program’s typical grant is in the $30,000 to $40,000 range, according to a press release.
“It’s just an incentive from the state to continue doing the good work that we do,” Fennell said.
Fennell credited the township’s residents for having a commitment to recycling, in turn generating the grant funding.
“Upper Dublin has an excellent recycling program,” she said. “We have an educated resident base. I think the kids are more aware of it, and they make their parents recycle more.”
The grant money will be used to fund the township’s ongoing recycling efforts.
“It goes to the sustainability of the programs we have in place already,” Fennell said, noting some of the funding will go toward educational pamphlets, Earth Day giveaways and purchasing more receptacles.
The grant prevents the township from having to use additional money from its general fund to support the recycling program, according to Fennell.
Moving forward, Upper Dublin looks to keep its amount of recycled materials climbing.
“Our biggest push now is to get the commercial properties in the township to recycle much, much more than they are now,” Fennell said, noting the township is working on an ordinance that would require glass and plastic to be recycled. “We really want to get on the books a mandate that we can enforce that increases the materials that they’re required to recycle.”
Thomas Celona can be reached at tcelona@montgomerynews.com, or you may comment on this story below.
Source : www.montgomerynews.com
