Blogfinger

This is our pail. We put it out with recycling in it. It was out the night before collection on Wed.

We live on a corner.  It is well lit, and this pail was out in the open.  There is a small label on top which says “recycling.”

The truck came by and picked up the recycling from all our neighbors, except us.

By Thursday morning it was still there, at attention, like some isolated plastic soldier standing guard over our parking spot.     We have been using this pail for recycling for about one month.

We think we are the champion recyclers in town because it was full to the top.    We have so much recycling every week that sometimes I have to take the excess to the “dump'”on Heck Avenue near the  Neptuner DPW building.

Eileen sometimes comes to the dump with me.  It is very romantic–like a date;  and then we go for coffee.

Be the first to tell exactly what happened to account for our situation.  If you are first, you will win a signed print by OG artist Jack Bredin, and you will learn what I learned about this recycling headache.

And please, no trash talk.

Paul Goldfinger,   Editor. Blogfinger.net

THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.    “The William Tell Overture” from the movie soundtrack of A Clockwork Orange.

The winner is Katy Roessle.  She was first with her entry:     “I think they missed it because the recycling pick-up truck Wednesday thought you’d left out your trash pail for the Thursday trash pick-up.”

The answer was not immediately apparent.   I found out what  was going on after a phone call to DPW, an in-person visit to DPW and then a conference with a supervisor who showed up at our home on Thursday with one of the workers who made the  decision to  pass us by on Wednesday.   Here is a summary of what we learned:

a.  They came by and saw our garbage pail that had a label on top. “recycle.”   They assumed that it was garbage and not recycling.  According to the supervisor, they should have looked under the hood and they would have seen recycling materials.  If they had done that, they would have emptied the can into their truck–no problem.

b.  An official green pail is not required.  You can put out recycling in any can as long as the can is less than 40 gallons. (Ours is 32 gallons.). You cannot put out recycling in plastic bags.

We ordered a sticky sign from Amazon for our pail.  It says “Recycle”. That will prevent a similar mishap.

c. The recycling center on Heck Avenue has no more green pails left. They don’t know if there will be any more coming in.

d.  There are green pails available on Amazon like the ones that most Grovers use.

e. The worker at the recycling center said something interesting to me, “Summer people from Ocean Grove will be leaving soon and they sometimes bring us their green pails.”

f. There is a secretary at the DPW office who is very pleasant and helpful. That place is battened down like a military compound.   And they’re not good at returning calls.

g. One reason I go to the recycle center is to get rid of cardboard that accumulates from Amazon.

h.  How to get to the recycle center?  Go on Rt 33 to Neptune Blvd which is west of Rt. 35.  Turn right and go past the high school and turn left on Heck Avenue. Watch out for the humps.   Up ahead, on the right is the DPW building.  Turn right into the driveway and stop at the STOP sign.  There is a worker there who will help you.

Katy Roessle..   You predicted that you would win, and you did.  I will email you with instructions to claim your prize.

ANNETTE HANSHAW: