Ocean County Free Shredding Program Starts In April

TOMS RIVER – Don't chuck those bank and credit card statements in the trash and compromise your identity.

Instead, you can have your paperwork shredded for free, courtesy of Ocean County at one of 22 locations this year.

The Ocean County Residential Document Shredding Program starts on April 14 in Brick Township.

“This free and very popular program moves around the county providing a layer of safety from identity theft,” said Ocean County Freeholder Director Gerry P. Little. “This is an opportunity to rid your home of papers that may include sensitive information and should be shredded rather than just tossed into recycling or the trash.”

Locations, dates and times for the 2018 program are as follows:

Brick Township Public Works Yard Lot, 836 Ridge Road, 9 a.m.to 1 p.m., April 14

Long Beach Township, St. Francis Community Center Lot, 4700 Long Beach Blvd., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., April 20

Plumsted Township Municipal Complex Lot, 121 New Egypt Allentown Road, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., April 28

Little Egg Harbor Township, Little Egg Harbor Community Center, 319 West Cala Breeze Way, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., May 2

South Toms River Recreation Center Lot, 1 Drake Lane, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., May 12

Point Pleasant Beach Public Works Yard Lot, 301 Cooks Road, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., May 19

Berkeley Township Recycling Center Yard Lot, 630 Pinewald Keswick Road, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., June 2

Eagleswood Township Municipal Complex Lot, 146 Division St.,9 a.m. to 1 p.m., June 9

Stafford Township, Southern Ocean County Recycling Center Lot, 379 Haywood Road, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., June 16

Bay Head Recycling Center Lot, 214 Park Ave., 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., June 23

Manchester Township High School Soccer Field Lot, 101 S. Colonial Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., June 30

Lakewood Public Works Yard, 1 America Ave., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., July 13

Tuckerton Recycling Center Lot, 445 South Green St., 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., July 21

Ocean Township Municipal Complex Lot, 50 Railroad Ave., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., July 28

Lakehurst Public Works Yard Lot, 800 Myrtle St., 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Aug. 4

Toms River Township, Riverwood Park Lot, 250 Riverwood Drive, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Aug. 10

Lacey Township Recycling Center Lot, 820 Municipal Lane, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Aug. 18

Pine Beach, Walling Field Lot, 601 Station Ave., 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Aug. 25

Seaside Heights Recycling Center Lot, Bay Boulevard and Sherman Avenue, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Sept. 8

Surf City Police Department Lot, 9th Street and Central Avenue, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Sept. 15

Point Pleasant Recycling Center Lot, Arthur Avenue (behind Stop and Shop) 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sept. 22

Jackson Township Municipal Building Rear Lot, 95 West Veterans Highway, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Sept. 29

Each shredding event will run the complete schedule or until the truck is full. The truck has a capacity to hold 10,000 to 12,000 pounds of paper.

The program is free to Ocean County residents, who can go to any site listed. Commercial documents will not be accepted at the collection sites.

The shred units feature an automatic feeding and dumping system that eliminates human contact with private documents. Residents are limited to six boxes or bags of documents per event.

The program is for all paper documents and paper forms; paper clips and staples need not be removed. Unacceptable items include x-rays, CDs, floppy disks, microfilm, and file folders.

Ocean County offers drop-off boxes at both county recycling centers for shredded office paper for residents who prefer to shred at home.

Photo: Patch file photo