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

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shmuel-felderLakewood, 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 last night at 9 p.m. and will continue through tomorrow at noon. The following are garbage drop-off locations:

-Patrick Park, 1000 Vine Street – baseball parking lot.

-Sunset Park-Sunset Road – playground parking lot.

-Pine River – Ponderosa Drive.

– Old DPW Site on Ninth Street past Princeton Avenue – parking lot.

-Forest Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets.

-John Franklin Public Works Complex, One America Avenue – resident drop-off area.

-West Gate – Hillside Blvd.

– Frank Bartoff Park, Brook Road – parking lot.

Locations for biur chometz tomorrow morning are as follows:

-Patrick Park, 1000 Vine Street – baseball parking lot.

– Frank Bartoff Park, Brook Road – parking lot.

-Rav Gissinger’s shul, 174 Sunset Road – parking lot.

– BMG 7th Street and Private Way – parking lot.

– BMG 9th Street and Clifton Avenue – parking Lot.

{R. Wolf-Matzav.com Newscenter}


9 COMMENTS

  1. can someone explain why there is no problem of me having chametz in the townships bin? Am I allowed to have chometz in a goys house? Especially if there is a kezayis and its not spoiled?
    I also don’t understand why the bins are different then anything else that is rented or leased by a Jew. The township doesn’t give it to just anyone who wants it. It must be a house that is in Lakewood township. So why is that different then a rented house?

  2. I think there’s an “um’dinah” that you are mafkir anything in the trash bins, so as long as the bins are not owned by you it wouldn’t make a difference what size the chometz is. Don’t know if this is R’ felders reason, but that’s what I would guess.

  3. It is clear from OC 348:5 that it is forbidden to keep chometz at home even with bitul b’lev. Because the garbage cans belong to the township, this interdiction will not have been violated.

  4. The very first shilah I ever addressed to an orthodox rabbi was about putting chametz in a communally owned bin, and he paskened similarly.

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