Toms River, Brick Township, and Berkeley Township, along with Ocean and Burlington Counties, grab lion's shares of a record $23,700,000 in New Jersey Clean Communities litter-fighting grants issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

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Middletown receives the biggest check of any Monmouth County community in this year's allocations. In all, municipalities are dividing $21,100,000 and counties share $2,600,000. It's a significant increase over 2015 allotments, which totaled $20,800,000 combined.

The program is overseen by the nonprofit New Jersey Clean Communities Council. Payouts cover costs associated with projects such as storm drain clearance, volunteer cleanups of public lands, adoption and enforcement of anti-littering ordinances, beach cleanups, educational outreach programs, waste receptacles, recycling bins, anti-littering signage and graffiti removal.

Revenue for the grants is derived from a user fee paid by manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors of litter-generating products. Grants are based on the number of housing units and miles of locally-owned and maintained roads in each community.

Toms River is in line for $257,441. Brick Township's share is $195,190. Middletown gets $175,892. Berkeley Township receives $149,316. The largest single municipal share, $494,289, goes to Newark.

Ocean County's share, the largest of all 21 counties, is $244,853. Burlington County receives $199.728.

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