Category: Goal 11. Minimal Pollution and Waste

Goal: Minimize the generation and accumulation of pollution and waste; maximize the use of efficient, clean, and sustainable energy sources; and increase consumer choices for ecologically friendly products.

For decades New Jersey has had a reputation as a center of industrial pollution. While we have made some headway in recent decades, we still have a long way to go before we can reverse this image. The state has many contaminated sites, rivers that we can’t fish or swim in, combined sewer overflows, and unhealthy ozone levels. Toxic waste sites hinder the redevelopment of old urban areas because the required cleanup is expensive and the risk of liability is great. We are making more of an effort than in the past to find solutions to some of these problems, but we still have more to do.

What might we add to future indicator reports?

We don’t know enough about how air quality affects both water quality and public health. We also don’t know enough about indoor environmemtal quality and its relationship to asthma, elevated blood lead levels, and other health problems. We are not tracking the use of recycled products or consumption of organic foods; these are useful measures of how our citizens are helping reduce pollution and waste and support a more sustainable economy.