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Hopewell Township Achieves Sustainable Jersey Certification 

by MercerMe Staff

Sustainable Jersey representatives announced last week that Hopewell Township has met the rigorous requirements to achieve Sustainable Jersey certification. Hopewell Township is one of 70 towns that have attained certification in 2017 and will be honored at the Sustainable Jersey awards luncheon on Tuesday, November 14 in Atlantic City with Mayor Kevin D. Kuchinski accepting the award.

“Hopewell Township has a proud history of environmental stewardship and sustainability, and we are honored to be recognized by Sustainable Jersey as one of 70 towns in NJ that attained certification in 2017,” said Mayor Kuchinski. “A special thanks to our Environmental Commission and Green Team, and all the other volunteers and township staff that worked towards this certification.”

To become Sustainable Jersey certified, Hopewell Township submitted documentation to show it had completed a balance of the required sustainability actions, meeting a minimum of 150 action points. In addition to reaching 150 points, each certified community had to create a green team and select at least 2 out of 12 priority action options. Hopewell Township did 3 of the 12 priority actions by completing a 1) Create Green Team 2) Community Education and Outreach, 3) Hold a Green Fair, 4) Farmers Markets, 5) Green Building Policy/Resolution, 6) Upgrade/Retrofit- Light Pollution, 7) Sustainable Land Use Pledge, 8) Natural Resource Inventory, 9) Environmental Commission, 10) Clustering Ordinance, 11) Tree Protection Ordinance, 12) Recycled Paper, 13) Prescription Drug Safety and Disposal, 14) Community Paper Shredding Day, 15) Non-Mandated Materials Recycling.

“Sustainable Jersey is proud of the 70 New Jersey towns that achieved certification this year,” said Randy Solomon, Director of Sustainable Jersey. “The 208 Sustainable Jersey certified towns demonstrate leadership and are a testament to how much we can accomplish toward the long-term goal of a sustainable New Jersey.” Certified towns excelled in areas such as improving energy efficiency and health and wellness, reducing waste, sustaining local economies, protecting natural resources and advancing the arts. Collectively, the 445 participating Sustainable Jersey towns are a powerful force in New Jersey.

About Sustainable Jersey 

Sustainable Jersey provides tools, training and financial incentives to support communities as they pursue sustainability programs. Currently, 79 percent or 445 of New Jersey’s 565 municipalities are participating in the municipal certification program and 279 school districts and 694 schools are participating in the Sustainable Jersey for Schools certification program.

Sustainable Jersey’s partners include the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, Sustainability Institute at The College of New Jersey, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Clean Energy Program. Program underwriters include the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities Clean Energy Program and the Surdna Foundation. The 2017 Sustainable Jersey Grants program for municipalities is funded by PSEG Foundation and the Gardinier Environmental Fund. South Jersey Gas, PSEG and New Jersey Natural Gas are Platinum Sponsors. NJM Insurance Group is a Gold Sponsor, Bayshore Recycling is a Silver Sponsor, and our Bronze Sponsors are Covanta, Greener by Design, Tesla, AT&T and Elizabethtown Gas. The Sustainability Summit venue sponsors are Good Energy, Investors Bank and Church & Dwight.

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