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Berkeley Heights residents can now empty their homes of saved thin-film plastic and easily recycle their loads! Drop-offs are the first Saturday of every month, from 9 am-12noon.

As part of a new Union County recycling initiative with Trex Company, Ind., the Union County Board of County Commissioners launched the free service this month. The new plastic film recycling program is the first countywide plastic film recycling effort to launch in New Jersey.

The Commissioner Board is partnering with the firm Trex, the world’s largest manufacturer of high-performance, low-maintenance composite decking and other outdoor living products made from recycled materials.

The program launched with an initial cohort of 12 municipalities: Berkeley Heights, Fanwood, Cranford, Elizabeth, Hillside, New Providence, Roselle Park, Scotch Plains, Springfield, Summit, Westfield and Union. Berkeley Heights residents can drop off their plastic at the DPW yard, adjacent to Town Hall, at 101 Berkeley Avenue. 

Information about locations and scheduling is available on the Union County website at ucnj.org/recycling/plastic-film and on the free Recycle Coach app for mobile devices.

Most of the participating municipalities will accept clean, dry plastic film from any Union County resident, regardless of their hometown. Please note that the drop-off locations in Fanwood and Summit are not accessible to non-residents at this time.

In order to protect the recycling stream from contamination, only the following items are accepted:

From the store: produce bags, store bags, and ice bags

From the pantry: Ziploc and other re-closable bags, cereal box liners, case overwrap (for example a case of bottled water), and bread bags

From the front door: newspaper sleeves, bubble wrap, and plastic e-commerce mailers

As a reminder, only flexible plastic film may be recycled through this program. No clamshells, casings, containers or other hard plastic items are accepted.

The Berkeley Heights thin-film plastic initiative that was suspended during COVID had residents dropping off their plastic at designated locations throughout Berkeley Heights; volunteers would then bring the loads to ACME in New Providence for recycling. That program was wildly popular, thanks to the Berkeley Heights Environmental Commission and our residents' enthusiasm for recycling. This new initiative picks up where that left off, and eliminated the need for volunteers to drop off the loads of plastic for recycling.