The City of Newburgh will be hiring a full-time recycling coordinator for one year, made possible by a recently awarded New York State Department of Environmental Conservation municipal waste reduction and recycling grant.

In addition to the full-time position, the grant money, which was in the amount of $41,139 with a hundred percent city match, will be used to purchase recycling education materials.

“I am very excited about this, and I am sure the other council members that worked on this are too,” said Councilman Anthony Grice. “This is such great news. It’s something we’ve been looking forward to. It’s past time.”

Councilwoman Ramona Monteverde hopes to see the City of Newburgh receive the same grant for next year and the following years.

The position will be posted on the City of Newburgh website for anyone to apply. Currently, the City of Newburgh has a sanitation enforcement officer, who handles violations related to recycling.

“This entity will be more geared towards outreach for recycling purposes and encouraging the community to actually recycle,” said City Manager Joseph Donat. “There wouldn’t be as much of an enforcement piece with this as there is with the sanitation enforcement officer.”

Councilwoman Patricia Sofokles is hoping to also see better enforcement with recycling.