SEPTEMBER 2019
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Summer fun
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
Lidl to open at shopping center By roB antHeS
ranthes@communitynews.org
Less than a year after Lawrence Shopping Center lost the tenant of its supermarket anchor, a new grocer confirmed it will be filling the spot. Germany-based market Lidl is in the preliminary planning phases for the former Acme location on Brunswick Pike, a company spokesman said, adding that it is too early to offer a specific time frame for the store’s opening. “However, we can tell you we plan to put a store in this location,” Lidl’s Chandler Ebeier said in an Aug. 7 email. “We believe Lidl’s award winning shopping experience will be a great
addition to the Lawrenceville community.” The new tenant would fill a large void in the shopping center, a 39,681-square-foot anchor at the plaza’s northeast corner. When Acme closed the 2497 Brunswick Ave. location last August, it was the first time in generations there wasn’t a grocery store in that spot. Acme had operated there since November 1979. Food Fair and Pantry Pride also have occupied the unit. Acme made the decision to leave the shopping center in July 2018 in part because the Lawrence store had not met corporate goals for a number of years, Acme spokesperson Dana Ward said at the time. Since then, fortunes have
turned some for Lawrence Shopping Center. Construction began in mid-July 2018 on updating the facade of the entire complex, fulfilling a vow by owners JJ Operating to invest $5 million into capital improvements at the shopping center. Bury the Hatchet, an ax-throwing entertainment center, opened in the center in late 2018. A L.A. Fitness gym has long been confirmed for the plaza, with construction imminent. And, in late July, township manager Kevin Nerwinski shared on social media that auto parts store AutoZone had executed a lease in the shopping center. Lidl now joins the list. LawSee LIDL, Page 5
To recycle, or not to recycle? Most residents don’t know the answer, and that’s causing soaring costs By micHeLe aLPerin
Sammeia and Samiyyah White celebrate the end of summer at Slackwood Presbyterian Church’s Community Fair Aug. 18, 2019. For more shots from the fair, turn to Page 10. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
Since 1987, New Jersey state law has mandated recycling, but Mercer County residents can’t seem to figure out what is recyclable and what isn’t. The result has been increasingly contaminated containers and huge increases in recycling costs. The issue is statewide, and local towns are no exception. According to Chris Rupp, director of public works for Robbinsville Township, the town’s recycling costs “have doubled from $125,000 per year to $250,000 per year.” Dan Napoleon, director of environmental programs
at the Mercer County Improvement Authority, says that the cost per household per year now averages around $29, which generates large bills in populous towns. The major change on the recycling scene, says Frank Fiumefreddo of Solterra Recycling Solutions, is that “the quality of the material we were shipping overseas had gotten to a point that it was unacceptable.” As a result, in 2018, China lowered the minimum allowable percentage of contamination in recycling, throwing the entire recycling industry into crisis. Solterra is the contracted hauler for curbside recycling in Robbinsville and towns served by the Mercer County Improvement Authority, including Lawrence. “They went from maybe five percent, and the new standard was they would not accept any
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material with greater than onehalf of one percent contamination,” Napoleon says. “We saw a 40 percent increase in collection costs as a result.” Because the biggest contributors to contamination of the recycling stream are plastic bags and pizza boxes, Robbinsville and the Mercer County Improvement Authority are focusing on them in campaigns to reeducate consumers on the how-to’s of recycling. Plastic bags and any items inside them go directly into the trash at the processing plant. “It could be 100 percent clean recycling, but it is not opened at the facility,” Napoleon says. Plastic bags that make their way to the sorting line can jam up the sorting machinery and must be removed by hand, which increases costs. Pizza boxes See RECYCLING, Page 6
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