Contents
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• Plan Home

• Introduction

1. Compliance with State Plan 

2. Attainment of the Mandated Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Goal

3. Existing and Proposed Morris County Source Reduction, Recycling and Waste Diversion  Programs

4. Source Separation

5. Materials Mandated to be Source Separated and Recycled

6. Additional Materials

7. Materials That are No Longer Designated to be Source Separated and Recycled

8. Enforcement Program

9. Municipal Responsibilities

Appendices

1. Morris County Solid Waste Generation - Plan Implementation Ten-Year Projection

2. Morris CountyGenerated Disposal Tonnages by Year for 1995-2006 - MCMUA  - Parsippany and Mt. Olive Transfer Stations Combined as Compared to NJDEP Data

3. Inventory of Morris County Solid Waste Facilities

4. Guidelines for Evaluation of Solid Waste Facility Requests to be Included in  the Morris County Solid Waste Management Plan

5. Enforcement Documentation

6. Sample Model Municipal Planning Board Recycling Ordinance for Multifamily Housing Developments That Require Subdivisions or Site Plan Approval

7. Sample Recycling Status Report for Generators

Tables

1. Morris County Recycling Rates 1995 - 2004

2. Morris County Total Solid Waste Generation - Ten-Year Projection from 2004 Base Year

3. Recycling and Disposal Data (State Plan, Table B-1)

4. Municipal Solid Waste - Status Quo Projection Based on Population Increases

5. National Municipal Solid Waste Generation Rates According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)

6. Additional Tonnage to be Extracted from the Municipal Solid Waste Stream for Recycling by 2015

7. Municipal Recycling Programs

8. Materials Mandated to be Source Separated and Recycled Morris County, New Jersey

9. Additional Materials Recommended to be Included in Municipal Waste Management Programs

10. Solid Waste Activities Inspection Checklist

Solid Waste Management
Plan Amendment
Morris County, New Jersey

Response to the January 2006 New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Solid Waste Management and Sludge Management State Plan Update - March 2007

2. Attainment of the Mandated Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Goal

According to Table 3, which is taken from the State Plan, Morris County needed an additional 76,421 tons of generated waste to have been recycled in 2003 in order to have met its MSW Recycling Goal.

Table 3
Recycling and Disposal Data
(State Plan, Table B-1)¹

¹This table is taken from the NJDEP Solid Waste Management & Sludge Management State Plan Update, January 2006. The table was modified by the addition of a column to show the MSW disposal tonnage at the 50% recycling rate.

Because the State Plan requires counties to provide "an inventory of the quantity of solid waste generated within the district for the ten-year period commencing with the adoption of updated district solid waste management plan," this Plan Amendment is also taking into account the tons required to be recycled in 2015 to meet Morris County's MSW Recycling Goal by that time. Table 4 shows projected MSW growth through 2015, taking population growth into account. This table reflects a constant generation rate of 6.66 pounds per person per day, which is based on the 2004 generation rates computed in Appendix A - Morris County Solid Waste Generation - Plan Implementation Ten-Year Projection. It is important to note that Table 4 reflects the status quo projected growth in MSW generation if no changes are implemented. On the other hand, Appendix A lists the decreasing solid waste tonnages and the increasing recycling tonnages necessary each year in order to achieve the recycling goals by 2015. This is a forecast of tonnage levels to be achieved by implementing this Plan Amendment.

Of note, Appendix A shows very slight fluctuation from a low of 6.64 and a high of 6.66 pounds per capita per day, whereas. Table 4 lists a constant per capita generation rate of 6.66 pounds per capita per day and did not use the slight fluctuations that were shown in Appendix A. First, the figures in Appendix A were not broken down into disposal and recycling, whereas Table 4 does provide this breakdown. Second, the figures in Table 4 are projections based on current trends whereas the figures in Appendix A are projections based on achieving the 50% and 60% Recycling Goals.

Table 4
Municipal Solid Waste
Status Quo Projection Based on Population Increases

* The first row of figures for the year 2015 above shows projected MSW generation based on population growth alone. The second row of figures for the year 2015 provides projected MSW generation based on the attaining the MSW Recycling Goal stipulated in this Plan Amendment.

The use of a constant per capita MSW generation rate is consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report on municipal solid waste titled Municipal Solid Waste in the United States 2005 Facts and Figures, Executive Summary dated October 18, 2006. This report shows very little fluctuation in MSW generation levels on a per capita basis from 1990 through 2005. Table ES-3 on page 3 of that report shows MSW generation rates as summarized in Table 5.

Table 5
National Municipal Solid Waste Generation Rates
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)

In Table 4, the difference between the forecasted amount of recycling tonnage in 2015 (212,302 tons) and the tonnage that will be needed to achieve the 50% Recycling Goal (302,416 tons) is 90,114 tons. This Plan Amendment will focus on the diversion of these 90,114 tons from the municipal solid waste stream in order to achieve the 50% Recycling Goal by 2015. Table 6 shows by material the total amount of tons which will be targeted by this Plan Amendment. Table 6 utilizes data from the Bergen County Utilities Authority ("BCUA") Solid Waste Composition - Final Report dated March 2005. Specifically, Table 3-2 of that report lists the percentages of specified material categories that remain in the Type 10 waste stream as tallied from samples of waste at several transfer stations located in the county over 4 seasons. Type 10 waste, as defined by N.J.A.C. 7:26-2.13.g.1.i., means "waste originating in the community consisting of household waste from private residences, commercial waste which originates in wholesale, retail or service establishments, such as, restaurants, stores, markets, theatres, hotels and warehouses, and institutional waste material originated in schools, hospitals, research institutions and public buildings." For the purposes of this Plan Amendment Type 10 waste and MSW data from various sources are similar enough to be used for comparison purposes.

This Plan Amendment uses the BCUA study for the following reasons. The 2005 BCUA study, which takes into account recent recycling trends, is more current than the most recent Morris County waste composition study, conducted in 1991. Comparisons between the 2005 BCUA study and the 1991 Morris County study were made and similarities were found in the percent composition of most materials to provide assurance that the information is applicable. Additionally, Bergen County and Morris County are both located in northern New Jersey and utilize some of the same recycling markets.

Using the BCUA study, the MCMUA multiplied Morris County's MSW disposal tonnage for 2004, the base year, and the projected MSW disposal tonnage for 2015 by the composition percentages in order to determine the quantity of certain materials which remain in the waste after source separation and recycling. This yielded the tonnage amounts of each specified material category which remains in the waste. For example, there remained an estimated 135,135 tons of paper in the waste in 2004 and that number will grow to 139,348 tons of paper by 2015. The MCMUA then applied conservative percentages to many of the waste types in which it is felt that improvements in recycling will be made, and therefore increased tonnage will be diverted from the disposal waste stream to the recycling waste stream. The total amount of material to be diverted by 2015 is 108,691 tons. This diversion goal of 108,691 tons will exceed the 90,114 tons required to achieve the MSW Recycling Goal by over 18,000 or almost 20%.

As stated above, N.J.S.A. 13:1E-99.13. District Recycling Plan states:

"3.b. Each district recycling plan required pursuant to this section shall include, but need not be limited to:
  

(4) Designation of recovery targets in each municipality to achieve the maximum feasible recovery of recyclable materials from the municipal solid waste stream which shall include, at a minimum, the following schedule:
   

(c) The recycling of at least 50% of the total municipal solid waste stream, including yard waste and vegetative waste, by December 31, 1995;"

This Plan Amendment reaffirms the statutory requirement of municipalities to achieve the recycling of at least 50% of the total municipal solid waste stream. Further, this Plan Amendment seeks to have each municipality achieve this MSW Recycling Goal by 2015. Despite the fact that some municipalities currently have achieved the MSW Recycling Goal, it is recommended that each municipality continue to evaluate and improve their recycling program to increase recycling tonnage.

With the tonnage projections presented, the following sections of the Plan Amendment address how the additional recycling tonnage diversion will be achieved.

Table 6
Additional Tonnage to be Extracted from the
Municipal Solid Waste Stream for Recycling by 2015

¹ Waste composition percentages were taken from the Bergen County Utilities Authority Solid Waste Composition - Final Report dated March 2005, Table 3-2 on page 3-11.