New Milford is the recipient of $20,445 in grant money awarded by the Christie Administration to enhance local recycling efforts. 2012 marks the 25^th anniversary of the state’s Mandatory Recycling Act, a landmark law that made New Jersey the first state to require recycling.

This year's grant is based on the recycling successes local governments demonstrated in 2010. In 2010, New Jersey reached a 40-percent municipal solid waste recycling rate for the first time since 1998.

Here are what the surrounding towns received:

River Edge: $16,623

Oradell: $10,759

Teaneck: $40,227

Bergenfield: $29,446

Dumont: $22,389

The recycling grant program is funded by a $3 per ton surcharge on trash disposed at solid waste facilities.