New Jersey’s Sherrill Administration recognized six businesses and organizations for their recycling efforts during the annual Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Recycling Awards program.
“Recycling helps conserve resources, reduces waste, promotes sustainability and protects public health – and makes economic sense by creating jobs, avoiding disposal costs and saving energy,” DEP commissioner Ed Potosnak said. “I commend these award winners for their outstanding work in their communities and for serving as roles models for all of us to follow.”
In 1987, New Jersey became the first state to enact legislation that requires recycling in residential, commercial and institutional settings. In 2023, New Jersey achieved an overall recycling rate of 53 percent, and continues to promote recycling through numerous grant and educational programs, including informing residents on recycling best practices in their communities.
The 2026 DEP Recycling Award winners are as follows:
Government
City of Hoboken – Hoboken established one of New Jersey’s first municipal residential composting programs, starting in 2015 with a community compost company partnership. The city has continued to build upon its success. In 2025, the city diverted 265,560 pounds of food scraps from landfills through its residential drop-off, curbside residential and commercial composting programs.
Recycling industry
Commercial Solar Panel Recycling Inc., Phillipsburg – Commercial Solar Panel Recycling Inc. is New Jersey’s first and only dedicated solar panel recycling center, processing two solar panels per minute and recovering aluminum frames, electronics and panel glass that are recycled into new products. The company has kept almost 20,000 solar panels out of the waste stream and recycled 245,000 pounds of glass, 36,000 pounds of aluminum and 1,500 pounds of junction boxes and wiring.
Leadership
Table to Table, Saddle Brook – Table to Table is a community-based nonprofit that reuses fresh, nutritious, surplus perishable food that would otherwise be wasted and delivers it free to organizations serving the hungry in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris and Passaic counties. In 2025, Table to Table collected more than 25 million pounds of surplus food.
Rising star
Torus, West Windsor – Torus is a youth founded, student led nonprofit organization that implemented a free food-waste curbside collection program. In 2025, Torus served more than 1,000 households and businesses in 19 municipalities, diverting more than 150,000 pounds of food waste from solid waste facilities.
Business
ECOS (Earth Friendly Products), Parsippany – ECOS (Earth Friendly Products), a manufacturer of household and commercial green cleaning products, reduces and reuses items while recycling mandated and non-traditional items. These sustainable practices enabled the facility to divert 99.3 percent of its manufacturing and office waste from disposal facilities, reducing disposal costs by more than $273,000 in 2025.
Waste reduction, resource management/sustainability
Roxbury Township, Roxbury Public Library and the Lake Hopatcong Foundation – The Roxbury Community Repair Café, a collaborative initiative between Roxbury Township, the Roxbury Public Library and the Lake Hopatcong Foundation, is a free community event that utilizes skilled volunteers to repair household items, helping extend the life of products and diverting them from the waste stream.
Recycling takes everyone
The DEP urges all residents, businesses and institutions to participate in their local recycling program and do their part to keep non-acceptable materials, such as plastic bags, trash, propane tanks and used syringes out of curbside and workplace recycling bins. Recycling programs vary by town, so it’s important to check up-to-date policies.
Manufacturers require clean, contaminant-free recyclable feedstocks to make new recycled content products and thus cannot accept loads of recyclable materials that are contaminated with non-acceptable items.
The recycling industry continues to face the challenge of contamination of the recycling stream caused by incorrect materials being recycled, limiting the economic benefits of recycling. Many recycling companies reject loads of recyclables that include non-recyclable items. When in doubt, throw it out.
Published November 2026
