New Jersey’s Rich Refuse To Recycle!

It appears as if New Jersey’s lower and middle classes recycle rather dutifully, but the rich, who seem to be the ones doing the most lecturing on the subject, seem to be doing the least actual…recycling.

Let’s look at some charts, shall we?

RECYCLING RATES OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE BY COUNTY: 2008 Cumberland 56.5% Ocean 35.7% Gloucester 49.9% Mercer 35.2% Bergen 44.0% Union 33.7% Cape May 44.0% Passaic 33.5% Essex 39.8% Camden 32.1% Salem 39.4% Sussex 31.9% Morris 39.3% Atlantic 30.3% Monmouth 39.1% Hudson 29.5% Middlesex 38.9% Hunterdon 29.1% Burlington 38.6% Somerset 28.7% Warren 37.0% STATE 37.7%

OK, let’s look at a second table – per capita income in these counties:

Rank	National Rank	County	Per Capita Income	Median House- hold Income
1	7	Somerset County	$37,970	$76,973
2	10	Morris County	$36,964	$77,340
3	13	Hunterdon County	$36,370	$79,888
4	21	Bergen County	$33,638	$65,241
5	42	Monmouth County	$31,149	$64,231
6	79	Mercer County	$27,914	$56,612
7	91	Sussex County	$26,992	$65,266
8	91	Union County	$26,992	$55,339
9	100	Middlesex County	$26,535	$61,446
10	111	Burlington County	$26,339	$58,608
11	120	Warren County	$25,728	$56,100
12	148	Essex County	$24,943	$44,944
13	181	Cape May County	$24,172	$41,561
14	244	Ocean County	$23,054	$46,443
15	266	Gloucester County	$22,708	$54,273
16	289	Camden County	$22,354	$48,097
17	393	Passaic County	$21,370	$49,210
18	417	Hudson County	$21,154	$40,293
19	439	Atlantic County	$21,034	$43,933
20	462	Salem County	$20,874	$45,573
21	1353	Cumberland County	$17,376	$39,150

So Somerset County, the wealthiest in the state of New Jersey, recycles the least. Hunterdon, the third-richest county in the state, is right behind Hunterdon in worst recycling counties. Hudson County, just off the bottom of the Per Capita Income column, recycles just about as much as the monied Hunterdon crowd.

The highest recycling rate? Cumberland County, which just happens to be the poorest county in the state.

The article in the Asbury Park Press glosses over the class differences here – actually, they don’t mention it at all – and focuses instead on a bill that would raise deposit fees and increase government spending as (apparently) the only solution to the recycling issue. Naturally, the paper is vexed by the fact that most people are opposed to such a bill. Maybe, given the neo-revolutionary fervor in the air, this wasn’t the best time to propose punishment taxation?

Clinton resident and recycling advocate Ron Williams was dismayed by the local opposition.

"They feel it's the government telling them what to do. It's as simple as that," Williams said.

The Republicans understand, even if the APP doesn’t:

“I regard wasting assets and wasting resources as almost inexcusable," state Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll said.

Yet Carroll, a Republican from Morris County, voted against the Recycling Enhancement Act. "It's a moral issue, to me. To my way of thinking, you recycle everything you can. I don't think it should be much of a governmental issue," Carroll said.

Carroll is correct, especially given the fact that the poor are the ones complying with the law, and would almost certainly be the ones to forced to pay any additional penalties tacked on by the state. Being that the wealthiest counties are stacked with the state’s political players and the people who support them financially, how likely are they to see a summons in the mailbox from the local sheriff for not recycling dozens of champagne bottles left empty after a fundraiser for his boss?

Hey – this blog loves the rich and is a big supporter of trickle-down economics and unfettered capitalism. BUT – if the rich are going to pass “green” lifestyle laws, they’d better abide by them, and not force responsibility onto New Jersey’s poor to subsidize their wasteful ways.

And maybe the APP should recognize that fact. But given the paper’s editorial slant, I would bet that most of them live in the aforementioned “rich” counties, and are smuggling empty caviar cans into their trash can as well. And how do they want to relieve their guilt? By taxing and spending, of course. Liberal cocaine…sigh…

Obey the laws on the books, my well-off friends, before passing new ones you have no intention of enforcing anyway…except, perhaps, in Hudson, Atlantic, Salem, and Cumberland counties…