Ocean County’s free Residential Document Shredding Program will get under way on Saturday, April 4, with its first stop scheduled in Brick Township.
“This is a program that moves throughout Ocean County, offering residents the ability to get rid of all those residential papers, like old bills, files, statements, that are no longer needed,” said Ocean County Freeholder James F. Lacey, who serves as liaison to the county’s recycling programs. “With this program we provide a convenient way to recycle old documents safely and securely.”
Ocean County began its free document shredding program in 2008.
“This program is very popular with our residents,” said Freeholder Director John C. Bartlett Jr. “This board is pleased to provide this service which, in addition to the environmental benefit, is an extra layer of security for our citizens.”
In 2014, Ocean County held 17 collection dates throughout the county and recycled 82.35 tons or 164,700 pounds of documents.
“All of these documents didn’t take up room at the landfill and didn’t get into the wrong hands avoiding identity theft,” Lacey said.
The 2015 Ocean County Residential Shredding Program will run from April until October. The work is being performed by Autoshred of Toms River and is done at no cost to the County.
Residents are not required to register for this free program and can bring six boxes or bags each day. The program is for all paper documents and paper forms. Paperclips and staples do not have to be removed.
Lacey noted the shredding unit features an automatic feeding and dumping system, which eliminates the need for human contact with a resident’s documents.
The dates, time and locations of the program are: April 4, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Brick Township Public Works Yard, 836 Ridge Road; April 11, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Eagleswood Township Municipal Complex, 146 Division Street; May 6, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Little Egg Harbor Township Community Center, 319 West Calabreeze Way; May 9, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Plumsted Township, Lakeview Drive south of Oakford Lake Park; June 12, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Toms River Township, Riverwood Park, 250 Riverwood Drive; June 20, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Ocean Township Municipal Complex, 50 Railroad Ave.; June 27, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Ocean Gate Municipal Building, rear parking lot, 801 Ocean Gate Avenue.
And, July 11, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Jackson Township Municipal Building, 95 West Veterans Highway; July 25, Stafford Township, Ocean County Southern Recycling Center, 379 Haywood Road, Building 105; Aug. 1, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Point Pleasant Recycling Center, Arthur Avenue; Aug. 15, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Bay Head Recycling Center, 214 Park Ave.; Aug. 22, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Lacey Township Recycling Center, 820 Municipal Lane; Aug. 29, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Seaside Park Recycling Center, Corner of 14th and Barnegat Avenues, and Sept. 4, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Toms River Township Riverwood Park, 250 Riverwood Drive.
And, Sept. 12, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Manchester Township Public Works Yard,
1360 Route 70; Sept. 26, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Berkeley Township Public Works Yard, 630 Pinewald-Keswick Road; Oct. 17, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Surf City, behind Police Department, 9th Street and Central Avenue, and Oct. 23, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Lakewood Township Public Works Yard, 1 America Avenue.
All collection dates will run the complete scheduled time or until the truck which has the capacity to hold 8,000 pounds is full. The program is only open to residents. And, residents can attend any site. Commercial documents will not be accepted nor are x-rays, CDs, floppy disks, microfilm and file folders.
For additional information call the Ocean County Department of Solid Waste Management at 732-506-5047 or visit the department’s website at www.co.ocean.nj.us.
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