Poskim: No Problem with Chometz in Township-Owned Trash Bins

Lakewood, NJ – Lakewood, an area of 26 square miles, has 217 miles of Township streets. It also has thousands upon thousands of garbage receptacles – bins that, while serving town residents, belong to the Lakewood Public Works Department, which is responsible for the maintenance and repair of Township roads and sewers, Township parks and open space, snowplowing of Township streets, leaf and brush collection, and, of course, garbage and recycling collection.

It is because these bins belong to the township that several Lakewood poskim, notably Harav Shmuel Felder, a posek of Beth Medrash Govoha, have ruled that there is no halachic concern if town residents leave chometz in their trash cans on Yom Tov. Since the cans are in the reshus of the township, there is no issue of baal yeira’eh and baal yeimotzeh.

It should be noted that Pesach is a good time to clean out your bins and hose them down, which is also recommended during the warmer weather, when they bins tend to emit a foul odor when t they are not cleaned or hose down.

It should be noted for those who wish for their bins to be free of chometz can take advantage of the local Pesach drop-off program, which started Wednesday and will continue until today at noon. The following are garbage drop-off locations:

• Forest Avenue, between 9^th and 10^th Streets.
• The former Public Works Complex on East 9^th Street.
• The Villas clubhouse on Twin Oaks Drive.
• Hillside Blvd. and Ropshitz in West Gate, across from the shopping plaza.
• Sterling Forest, on Hadassah Lane, in the rear parking area.
• Sunset Road, at the playground.
• Oak Street, just off of Route 9, in the public schoolyard.

Chometz burning will begin at 7:30 a.m. today, Erev Pesach, and continue until noon. The sites are as follows:

• The Bais Medrash Govoah parking lot on Seventh Street between Forest Avenue and Private Way.
• The Lakewood Cheder Parking Lot at the corner of Clifton Avenue and Tenth Street.
• Khal Zichron Yaakov, Rabbi Gissinger’s shul, on Sunset Road.
• The public school yard on Oak Street, off of Route 9 (not the Chateau Grand parking lot, which had been the site in previous years).
• Congregation Sons of Israel, at the corner of Madison Avenue and Sixth Street.

{R. Wolf-Matzav.com Newscenter}