The Environmental Commission of Raritan Township has plans to launch a Residential Food Waste Recycling Program, but their hopes of getting the pilot project off the ground could depend on winning a $10,000 Sustainable Jersey Grant. Almost 50 to 60% of household trash is compostable food waste, and it is a major contributor to greenhouse gases. In landfills, 40% of the food waste is converted to CO2 gas and about 20% is converted into methane, both potent greenhouse gases.
“So what the environmental commission decided to do was to take that on as a project and see if we can at least put a dent into some of that,” said David Moutner, chairman of the Raritan Township Environmental Commission. “The problem that we see in doing this is mostly an education one. People don’t really know a lot about food waste being a problem environmentally. It’s not as popular as cars and other things. So one of the things that we would need to address is education. The other thing is in the township, there really isn’t a good way for people to dispose their food waste.”
Garbage collection within Raritan Township is done directly between the homeowner and the trash collection service, and is not provided by the township via property taxes. This, Moutner said, turns collection of food waste within the township into a massively decentralized problem. There is a local business which provides biweekly residential pick-up of food waste in the area at a cost of $20 dollars a month to the customer.