Princeton residents have embraced the notion that recycling material that otherwise would go straight to the dump is good for the environment, according to the municipal coordinator for the company that picks up trash and recyclables throughout the city.

Robert Medigovich, a Community Waste Disposal municipal accounts manager with 20 years’ experience in the recycling business, declared that the average Princeton household recycles 39 pounds of material monthly that otherwise would go into a landfill.

When the recycling program started in the city nearly four years ago, Medigovich said Princeton had 4,849 homes.

“Today it has 8,240 homes,” he said. “The area is growing like gangbusters,” he said, adding that the number of homes increased by 69% since CWD took over Princeton’s waste disposal program.

In June 2019, CWD assumed the city’s waste disposal and recycling effort that had been run by Waste Connections. He calls the Princeton recycling program “highly successful” and noted that everyone is asked to participate in it, but no one is required to do so.”

CWD collected 1,884 tons of recycling material in Princeton in 2021.

“Every ton of recyclable material saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space,” Medigovich said, citing statistics offered by the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Yes, recycling definitely helps increase the life of our landfills,” he said.

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