Recycling pays, said Barbara “Bobbi” Jo Crea, Director of the Ocean County Board of Commissioners, before announcing that all 33 of the county’s municipalities will receive a check for their recent recycling efforts.

“I’m very pleased to announce our 2023 recycling revenue sharing program,” Crea said. “Our towns work hard on recycling and they deserve to be rewarded and share the money the county collects.”

Towns will receive a total of $50,531 split between all of the municipalities based on the amount of material transported to the county’s recycling center.

The top 5 municipalities, by tonnage and payout are:

• • Lakewood: 14,485.32 tons $9,788.82
  • Toms River: 13,331.76 tons $9,009.28
  • Brick: 7,931.44 tons $5,359.87
  • Stafford: 6,075.83 tons $4,105.90
  • Jackson: 4,477.76 tons $3,025.96

Crea said she was especially happy that the recycling effort generated a rebate despite a “very challenging” market for the recycled materials.

“Revenue was made possible due to The Board of Commissioners’ investments into Ocean County’s recycling infrastructure, which helped generate a small profit in difficult market conditions,” she said. “Our upgrades have also placed the county in a very good position for the future.

Crea said the improvements help lower operating costs, increase the quality of the recyclables and benefit the environment by lowering the amount of materials that go into the landfill.

For example, a new “optical sorter” installed in May 2023 captured enough polypropylene (#5 plastic) to generate more than $68,000 in revenue while saving more than $40,0000 in landfill costs, she said.

Ocean County collected 75,681 tons of recyclables in 2023.

The County splits profits from its recycling program 50-50 with its recycling operator – Atlantic Coast Recycling – then further splits that share 50-50 with its 33 municipalities.