Left to Right: Randall Solomon, Executive Director, Sustainable Jersey; Rick Thigpen, SVP Corporate Citizenship PSEG and CPSEG Foundation Chair; Cait Shoemaker, Lambertville Resident and Research Contributor to LEC; Liz Magill Peer, Chairperson, LEC; Cyndy Jahn, Commissioner, LEC; Anne-Marie Peracchio, Chairperson, Sustainable Jersey Board of Trustees.
The City of Lambertville Environmental Commission (LEC) was awarded a $20,000 Sustainable Jersey grant funded by the PSEG Foundation last week.
In total, four $20,000 grants, seven $10,000 grants and 25 $2,000 grants were distributed to municipalities in 15 New Jersey counties on May 7.
The grant awards fund a range of projects, including green infrastructure, park restoration, single-use plastic reduction campaigns, rain gardens, environmental resource inventories, creative placemaking, and green team capacity building. The LEC, chaired by resident Liz Magill Peer, sought this grant to support its Ditching Disposables initiative.
“I’m so proud of the work our Environmental Commission is doing to educate our residents and empower our businesses to move to a more sustainable future,” said Lambertville Mayor Julia Fahl. “Their work has made Lambertville a standard bearer for the progress toward more sustainable municipalities.”
The Ditching Disposables initiative will be discussed in greater detail during the Facebook LIVE with Mayor Fahl event on Wednesday from 7 to 7:30 p.m.
“From climate change, to water, waste and equity issues, so many of the big sustainability concerns are reaching a crisis point,” noted Randall Solomon, executive director for Sustainable Jersey. “This investment in sustainability projects will have lasting benefits to New Jersey.”
The Ditching Disposables project was developed to support the implementation the Lambertville ordinance passed in September 2018 that limited the use of single-use plastic bags, plastic straws, polystyrene foam and Styrofoam containers by businesses. The goal of the Ditching Disposables initiative is to assist residents in the adoption of this ordinance through education, communication, workshops, and certifications.
The PSEG Foundation has contributed 1.9 million dollars in funding to the Sustainable Jersey grants program for municipalities and schools. Sustainable Jersey grants are intended to help municipalities make progress toward a sustainable future in general, and specifically toward Sustainable Jersey certification. Nearly 90 percent of the New Jersey population lives in a registered or certified Sustainable Jersey community.
Information about the Ditching Disposables Initiative is available at the LEC Facebook page and website.
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