The City of Hoboken today announced the Zero Waste initiative to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve the quality of life for residents as part of the City’s Climate Action Plan. The Climate Action Plan, adopted in 2019, provides key action items in furtherance of the City’s goals to be carbon neutral by 2050 and net-zero energy by 2030. According to the plan, solid waste accounts for approximately 10 percent of the City’s GHG emissions.
The concept of zero waste goes beyond recycling and composting at the end of a product's life cycle to focus on discarded wastes as resources that can be managed in ways that preserve value, minimize environmental impacts, and conserve natural resources.
The City will begin collecting data to inform the creation of a Zero Waste Plan that will outline the steps to achieve Zero Waste. To gather public input regarding solid waste outputs and current waste management offerings, the City today released the online Zero Waste survey.
Residents and businesses can complete the survey at www.hobokennj.gov/ZeroWasteSurvey.
Next week, the City and project team will conduct a waste audit to understand the composition of Hoboken’s waste streams from household, commercial, and institutional sources. The data gathered in the waste audit will inform the development of policies, programs, and services to be recommended in the Zero Waste Plan.
The waste audit will collect samples of waste and sort those samples into multiple material categories to produce statistically representative and generalizable information about what is in the City’s waste and in what quantities. This effort will provide the baseline against which to compare future waste volumes and diversion rates and provide insight into evolving waste types.
Professionals from the City's consulting firm will conduct the waste audit on Monday, Sept. 19, through Friday, Sept. 23, at 200 Harrison St. Sorting will occur Monday through Friday, with site set up Saturday and break down Friday. Rodent bait stations have been placed around the site perimeter and will be serviced regularly before, during, and after the waste sorting process.
Currently, the City collects waste for household, commercial, and institutional properties alike, with no fees or varying collection requirements for commercial properties or businesses three times per week citywide, and six days per week in the limited business area. Commingled recycling is collected once per week citywide, as is paper recycling. The City collects paper recycling six times per week in the limited business area.
The City also launched a free residential compost drop-off program for organic recycling, which began with one drop-off site in 2019, expanded to four in 2020, and expanded to 12 in 2021.
For more information about the City's current waste collection, go to www.hobokennj.gov/waste.
For more information on the Zero Waste initiative go to www.hobokennj.gov/resources/zero-waste-initiative.
