Department of Public Works

Overview

American Flag Pole on SidewalkThe Department of Public Works manages a wide range of maintenance and improvement projects throughout the borough, including:

  • Maintaining all roadways in the Borough (except county roads)
  • Repaving roads; 
  • Pothole patching; 
  • Storm drain maintenance; 
  • Storm drain installation; 
  • Brook maintenance; 
  • Sign work; 
  • Tree work; 
  • Plowing roads; 
  • Salting roads and 
  • Plowing borough parking lots. 

In addition, this Department handles traffic light maintenance; borough building maintenance; ball field maintenance; maintaining various borough buildings; leaf pickup; street sweeping; maintaining borough fleet; drainage work; Christmas tree pickup; skating pond maintenance; general citizen complaints; delivering barricades for block parties and upgrading all storm drains to meet D.E.P new stormwater regulations.

Public Works Yard

Located at 4 Park Place off of Commonwealth Avenue (next to Oakwood Park)

Street Light Outage

Garbage Collection

Collection will begin earlier at 2 am. Please have your garbage at the curb the night before your scheduled collection. Thank you for your cooperation.

Recycling

Information regarding garbage collection, recycling, grass/brush/leaf collection, bulk collection, and other services can be found in the 2023 Borough Calendar (PDF).

Recycling Schedule

2023 recycling will occur on Wednesdays, alternating between the east side and west side of the borough:

East side: Summit line to South Street (includes South Street even and Passaic Street odd-numbered houses)

West side: Berkeley Heights line to South Street (includes South Street odd and Passaic Street even numbered houses)

Recycling Do's and Don'ts 

The recycling industry is experiencing high levels of contamination. This is coming at a time when the requirements for quality (clean recycling) are increasing due to new policies in China. These policies have banned twenty-four types of materials and include strict quality standards.  These significant changes are affecting the recycling industry worldwide.

When non-recyclable items (contamination) end up in recycling loads, they have the potential to turn the entire load into the trash and increase processing costs resulting in contamination and/or additional service charges.  Please review the list below of recycling changes:

  • Don’t bag your recyclables. Plastic bags and film get tangled in the machinery.

  • Don’t include food-soiled items – they can turn an entire load of recycling into trash.

  • Don’t add sharp or dangerous materials like needles and electronics – they can cause injury to workers.

  • Don’t toss in “tanglers” like rubber hoses and wires – they can shut down an entire recycling center!

  • Don’t include bulky items like propane tanks or construction debris.

Note: Our recycling company is now accepting #5 plastics! Plastic bottles and containers coded 1, 2 and 5 on the bottom can now be placed in your curbside recycling. Plastics, 3, 4, 6 and 7 should not be included in the curbside recycling containers – they can be thrown away in the regular garbage.

Check out the new Recycle Coach for detailed  recycling information and a downloadable app!

Drop Off Information

On the 1st and 3rd Saturday of the month from 9 am to 1 pm, you can drop off the following at the Department of Public Works:

  • Electronics
  • Appliances
  • Metal
  • Heavy plastic
  • Styrofoam
  • Plastic bags (Please do not place plastic bags in regular weekly recycling bins)

Items not accepted: 

  • Bubble wrap
  • Packing materials 
  • Anti-freeze