Maplewood has shared its recycling schedule for 2026.
New this year, “we just expanded plastic recycling to include items marked 1 through 7,” Mayor Vic De Luca announced at his State of the Township address on January 1.
Previously, Maplewood provided guidelines for recycling that include only plastics numbered 1, 2 and 5.
“Here’s the skinny,” said former Mayor Nancy Adams at the October 21 Maplewood Township Committee. “With the dual stream recycling that we switched to a couple years ago, much more of the stuff that is delivered to Bayshore [the recycling contractor for South Orange and Maplewood] is actually really being recycled and we are getting money back for it, going against our expenses for collecting recycling.”
Adams noted that “Bayshore does accept 1 through 7 and South Orange is planning on having the town advertise that they’re taking all numbers 1 through 7.”
“The downside is that those other numbers besides 1, 2, and 5 are less recyclable. So environmentally speaking, some people oppose that we collect it, because it does end up in the waste stream.” Adams added, “Plastic is very light, so may cost us a little more to collect as far as tonnage, but then if it’s getting recycled, we’ll get more back as well. So, I don’t know if we need to have a decision now, but this just came up to me today from Walter Clarke,” the South Orange Village Recycling Coordinator.
Adams said that it would be “good if we were consistent with South Orange.”
“There’s not as much of a market for reusing those numbers of plastic,” said Adams. “Some of it could be recycled. And some of it may end up in the waste stream.”
“Which it would do anyway if we didn’t promote collecting them,” said TC member Dean Dafis.
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