Sustainability: Green Living

The Perth Amboy Office of Economic and Community Development is the lead office in sustainability efforts in the City. Promoting environmentally friendly practices for the sake of public health and the health of our planet is something Perth Amboy strives for each and every day. To achieve these goals, the OECD partners with government agencies, non-profit organizations, and private institutions alike to ensure a sustainable future for the City.

Perth Amboy Storm Water Infrastructure Management (SWIM) Team:
The Perth Amboy Storm Water Infrastructure Management Team serves a particular purpose in addressing the issue of the City’s very old sewer system. Much like many other municipalities as historic as Perth Amboy along the Northeastern Coast, the antiquated sewer system combines both everyday sewage and the water from rainfall. Unfortunately, because the sewers were not built to manage so much water, rain fall triggers what is called a “combined sewer overage” where the excess water that would typically go to a treatment facility ends up in the waters just outside of Perth Amboy.

The Perth Amboy SWIM Team works with other municipalities that have this issue, along with experts from Rutgers University and a variety of advocacy groups across the State of New Jersey, with the goal of minimizing the amount of water from rain that ends up in our sewer system. SWIM accomplishes this with a number of different systems you can find around the City, including the following:

- Rain Barrels and Cisterns: These containers hold several gallons of water when it rains. The water that is contained is then used for gardening or cleaning, or is then released when it is not raining to reduce how much water is entering the sewer at one time. Although they don’t hold much water compared to how much is falling from the sky, every little bit helps! You can see barrels like these at some resident’s homes and you can find these cisterns at the Brighton Avenue Community Center and the Middlesex County Vocational and Technical High School!
- Rain Gardens: These gardens are specifically designed to hold a large volume of water and the plants in these gardens soak it up and flourish because of it. You can find rain gardens at the Alameda Care Center and at Washington Park!
- Permeable Asphalt: This is a special kind of street material that absorbs water as opposed to having it bounce off the pavement. Absorbing the water from the street keeps hundreds of gallons out of the sewer each year, which helps keeps our water than much cleaner every year!

If you’re interested in learning more about SWIM or storm water management in general, please contact Maximo Vazquez at [email protected] for more information.
The Perth Amboy SWIM Team meets at 2PM on the third Thursday of every month at Perth Amboy City Hall.

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Rain Barrel Demonstration Build:
Perth Amboy SWIM is teaming up with the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership to host a Rain Barrel Demonstration Build on March 21, 2019 from 6PM-8PM right here in town at the Alexander F. Jankowski Community Center. Check of the flyer for more information!
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Perth Amboy Green Team
The Perth Amboy Green Team was formed with the goal of bringing sustainability to Perth Amboy from the ground up. As a part of Sustainable Jersey’s certification program, the Green Team tackles different “Action Items” the make Perth Amboy a greener place to live piece by piece in a variety of different ways, including art, recycling, public health, civic engagement, pollution, wildlife activism, and much more.
Become part of the Perth Amboy Green Team by reaching out to Maximo Vazquez at [email protected] and make Perth Amboy Greener Every Day. Meeting dates for 2019 are TBD.

Green Business Recognition Program
The Office of Economic and Community Development is launching a Green Business Recognition Program to showcase all the businesses in town who have made efforts in becoming and making the City more sustainable. Funding by PSE&G and Sustainable Jersey, the program will highlight what the businesses in town are doing to give back to Perth Amboy’s environment.
A business will earn its VERDE Certification by filling out the application below and sending it to Maximo Vazquez at the Perth Amboy Office of Economic and Community Development. All businesses who earn this certification will be recognized on this page and earn a window decal commemorating their achievement!
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Resilient NJ
Perth Amboy has been selected to work as part of a team with a number of other municipalities in addressing storm resiliency in our region. Middlesex County has gathered Perth Amboy, South River, Woodbridge, Old Bridge, Sayreville, and the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership in developing a plan to prepare for future major storm occurrences. This planning process will take place over the next two years, and we will keep updates on the project below.

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