No Set Date for Start of Automated Recycling in Brick

When can Brick residents begin using their shiny, new blue automated recycling cans?

The answer: it's not yet known.

"We're hoping to have some trucks by the end of this week," Public Works Director Glenn Campbell said Tuesday.

The trucks, he said, were supposed to leave a manufacturing plant April 17 to be delivered to the township, but they did not.

The trucks – eight in all – are slated to come in two at a time, Campbell said.

"Will have them over the next four weeks," he said.

In January, the township council awarded a $2,064,120 contract for the trucks to Gran Turk Company of Bridgeport, Pa. That contract called for the Peterbilt trucks to be delivered to the township within 180 days, or six months, meaning the company has not breached its contract.

Campbell said once four of the trucks are in, the township will begin printing letters which will be sent to all residents notifying them that they may begin using their automated cans.

"I would hope that two weeks prior to hitting the streets, we can get that mailer out," he said.

Letters are a more reliable way of reaching residents than using robocalls, officials said.

The distribution of cans will be completed over the course of the next few days, said Campbell, though barrier island residents will not receive theirs yet.

Campbell said he was not comfortable setting an exact date for when automated recycling would officially begin, though he did say it will begin for all township residents, except island residents, at the same time.