The Rumson Junior Green Team was formed in 2020 to create an avenue for high school aged kids and young adults to work with the Rumson Environmental Commission as well as the Mayor and Borough Council of Rumson to help our community become more sustainable.

The Junior Green Team has a unique perspective on how sustainable practices affect our community and how younger people in particular can be a part of a transition to sustainable practices. A perfect example is the multifaceted anti-idling project. The Team conducted detailed research on the effects of idling in our community, identified where idling is most likely to occur and worked with the Environmental Commission to create an Action Plan to address the issue. The team created a written report with a detailed map of where idling occurs most frequently, requested signs for those locations, proposed the reprinting of educational bookmarks to hand out at the more busy locations and collaborated with the Environmental Commission to propose a No Idling Resolution that would codify the state mandate in our municipal code. Please email info.rumson.environmental@gmail.com with any questions about the Rumson Junior Green Team.

TENNIS BALL RECYCLING PILOT PROGRAM

The Rumson Junior Green Team celebrated Earth Day 2022 by launching a tennis ball recycling pilot program at the Victory Park tennis courts. The program was conceived by Junior Green Team member, Reed Hall, who is a life-long tennis player. “Unlike soccer balls or basketballs that can easily be pumped back up and reused, tennis balls are usually thrown away after a couple of uses,” explains Hall “and a tennis ball takes 400 years to decompose”. Through his efforts, the program expanded from Rumson's Recreation Department to include two high schools (RFH and Ranney), as well as tennis professionals at Spring Lake Recreation Department and Spring Lake Bath & Tennis Club. By summer’s end, Hall had collected nearly 2,000 tennis balls which will be recycled into new sports courts, horse footing, or re-pressurized and provided to underprivileged tennis programs.

RUMSON JUNIOR GREEN TEAM SUSTAINABLE BRANDS INITIATIVE (SBI):

Each decision you make throughout your day has an impact on our environment. By choosing products that use less packaging, less harmful chemicals or less negative production techniques; you can do your part to protect our natural resources and keep our ecosystem in balance. The Rumson Junior Green Team has created a list of Sustainable Brands to help facilitate that process. This list is ever evolving so please send any information on sustainable brands you might know about to info.rumson.environmental@gmail.com or erin.kenney7@gmail.com and we will research products and add to our list. Happy Shopping!

LIST OF IMPORTANT LINKS

Anti-Idling Resolution

Creative Education Games

Bingo

Scavenger Hunt

Created Social Media

Environmental Consciousness Campaign