🌎 How Medford Is Reducing Waste - From Repair Café to Composting & more
Each year, Earth Day serves as a reminder that small, local actions can have a meaningful impact on the health of our planet. In that spirit, Medford Township continues to expand community-driven efforts that promote sustainability and reduce waste.
On Sunday, May 17, 2026, Medford’s Environmental Affairs Advisory Committee / Green Team (EAAC/Green Team), in collaboration with the Burlington County Green Team Roundtable, will host the 2nd Annual Repair Café. The event will take place at the Medford Township Municipal Building at 49 Union St from 1:00 to 4:00 PM.
The Repair Café is FREE and offers residents the opportunity to bring in broken & malfunctioning household items in need of repair rather than sending them to the landfill. That toaster that isn't working right, your kids motorized truck, that weed whacker that stopped working, the blanket you love but has a hole in it, etc - stuff like that! Skilled volunteer “Repair Coaches” will be on hand, donating their time and expertise to help restore items and extend their useful life. It’s a simple but impactful way to embrace a culture of reuse.
This event is just one of several ongoing sustainability initiatives led by the EAAC/Green Team.
Happening at the same time as the repair cafe, just across the street at the Medford Quaker Meeting House is a Plant & Seed Swap from 11:30-1:30, bring a plant or seeds & take a plant/seeds! Their ad reads "don't have any plants? no worries, come and take one!" So if gardening is your goal - then it sounds like you can go chat with some experts!
Through the TREX Recycling Program (Trex to Bench), Medford residents are helping turn hard-to-recycle plastic film into something tangible for the community—benches. Coordinated locally by volunteers from the EAAC - like my mother-in-law, and EAAC Chair, Pola Galie (that is not a typo, her name is not Paula, learn it! haha) , Freedom Barks, and Cub Scout Troop 26, the program collects stretchy plastic film—items like grocery bags, plastic wrap, and other flexible packaging that typically can’t go in curbside recycling.
Collection sites throughout Medford make it easy to participate, including the EMT Station on Jackson Road, Love Thy Nature Refillery, Lower Forge Brewery, the Senior Center at Cranberry Hall, and events hosted by Freedom Barks.
The program is currently working toward bench #12, which requires thousands of pounds of material to complete. Thanks to community participation, Medford has already kept over 12,000 pounds of plastic film out of landfills.
One important reminder: only stretchy plastic film can be accepted. Items that belong in standard recycling—or materials like foam—can’t be processed through the program. When in doubt, it’s always better to check before dropping off.
For groups or organizations interested in getting involved, volunteers are available to share more about how the program works and the impact it’s making locally.
The EAAC/Green Team is also launching a Community Composting Pilot Program, giving residents a simple way to keep food waste out of landfills. Participants can sign up through a short form (link below), receive instructions, and drop off compost at either the Community Gardens or the Township Yard on Gravelly Hollow Road. A bucket with a lid is all you need to get started.
For more information on how to get involved, fill out this form.
Together, these programs—repairing household items, recycling plastic film, plant swapping and composting food waste—highlight Medford’s continued commitment to reducing landfill waste and building a more sustainable community.
For more information, visit the Sustainable Medford Facebook page or contact eaac@medfordtownship.com.