(NEWARK, NJ) -- NJ PBS has announced that a change-making Sussex County native, Jay Fischer, is the newest subject of the digital film series, 21, streaming at MyNJPBS.org/21. Produced by NJ PBS’s NJ Spotlight News team, the 21 digital film series investigates life in New Jersey and whether where you live affects how you live through the stories of change-making residents in each Garden State county. The short documentaries, six to 10 minutes, are accompanied online by snapshots that provide statistics, resources and other essential information for each county.
In the new episode Sussex County, viewers meet Fischer, who puts his spin on reducing, reusing, and recycling. He and his company, AG Choice, New Jersey's first and only commercial food waste and livestock manure on-farm composter, focuses on the science behind naturally recycling food waste items and diverting them from landfills. A passionate innovator, his equipment designs have made a second life possible for everything from coffee pods to food scraps.
“We need to realize that this is the only planet that we have. We need to start being much more conscious than what we are because you can't keep dumping stuff in a hole and thinking nothing's going to happen,” Fischer says in the film. “Being able to take these food waste items, keep them out of the landfill, and then through what happens naturally transform them into this rich, earthy soil… it's so satisfying.”
Fischer has also grown his business with his community in mind. In addition to his regular staff, AG Choice provides workforce training for local high school students with disabilities.
“It was important for me to build my business here, where I grew up, where we could offer good quality paying jobs…and real-world work experience (for students)”, he says in the film. “I want to leave this planet a better place than it was when I got here.”
To gain more insight into Fischer’s life and business, watch his interview on NJ PBS’s weeknight newscast, NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi on September 9 at 6:00pm, 7:30pm and 11:00pm on NJ PBS (check local listings). News segments are available online at NJSpotlightnews.org.
The 21 series has captured stories and statistics from Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Essex, Ocean and Passaic counties on its way to a line-up of all 21 in New Jersey. A community engagement component is also being planned to stimulate conversation about life in the Garden State.
NJ PBS, New Jersey's public television network, brings quality arts, education, and public affairs programming to all 21 counties in the state. Headquartered at the Agnes Varis NJ PBS Studio in Newark, the network offers diverse local programs including American Songbook at NJPAC, Chat Box with David Cruz, NJ Business Beat with Rhonda Schaffler, Here's the Story, Drive By History, One-on-One with Steve Adubato, State of the Arts and Treasures of New Jersey and PBS favorites such as Nature, NOVA, Amanpour and Company and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. Its award-winning news division, NJ Spotlight News, provides multiplatform reporting from across the Garden State on its weeknight newscast, NJ Spotlight News with Briana Vannozzi, and digitally via NJSpotlightNews.org, plus live news specials, community engagement events and daily newsletters. It recently launched its first podcast, Hazard NJ, investigating the effect of climate change on NJ Superfund sites. The MyNJPBS.org network website offers streaming programs and free digital resources for educators via PBS LearningMedia New Jersey. NJ PBS is operated under an agreement with the state of New Jersey by Public Media NJ, Inc. (PMNJ), a non-profit affiliate of The WNET Group, the parent company of award-winning New York public television stations THIRTEEN and WLIW21.
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