Highlighting Asbury Park’s Efforts to Going Green
12/9/21, Asbury Park, NJ - The City of Asbury Park has met the rigorous requirements to achieve silver level certification from Sustainable Jersey for the third year in a row—a first for any municipality in Monmouth County. Asbury Park was also the first municipality to receive silver certification in 2018 and in 2021 has received more points for Sustainable Jersey than all but 12 other municipalities in the state. Municipalities that achieve this prestigious certification are considered by their peers, state government, experts and civic organizations in New Jersey to be among the leading municipalities championing sustainability. The certification helps align and create community efforts to increase awareness, reduces waste and greenhouse emissions, saves money and resources, and makes the City eligible to apply for “green grants” in the future.
The City was honored for its silver level certification at the Sustainable Jersey Awards Luncheon on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 in Atlantic City during the League of Municipalities conference.
Sustainable Jersey is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that provides tools, training and financial incentives to support communities as they pursue sustainability programs. Currently, 81 percent, or 460 of New Jersey’s 565 municipalities are participating and 224 have received certification with only 29% receiving silver certification.
To become Sustainable Jersey certified at the silver level, the City of Asbury Park submitted documentation to show it had completed 37 sustainability actions across 16 categories, earning 395 points. Programs that were awarded points include building healthy communities through the Mayor’s Wellness Program, holding a City Green Fair, municipal energy initiatives including Energy Tracking and commercial energy efficiency outreach in partnership with NJNG, achieving a Safe Routes to School designation, and launching bike share programs as an innovative community project. The City Green Team, which is a mix of residents, business owners and City officials initiates and shepherds many of the programs.
“It’s an incredible achievement to once again receive silver level certification from Sustainable Jersey. The City showed a 200% increase in application points this year, a testament to our continual efforts to going green,” said Councilperson Eileen Chapman, “And even through the pandemic we were able to maintain our key programs – our green fair, municipal green purchasing policy, our smoking ban in parks, beaches and the boardwalk. We even launched a new program providing composters free of charge to residents through a Sustainable New Jersey grant. We have shown how Asbury Park is leading the way in sustainability, both in Monmouth County, and in New Jersey.”
For more information on Sustainable Jersey, visit www.sustainablenewjersey.com.
For more information on the City of Asbury Park, visit www.cityofasburypark.com