There is a new way for you to safely dispose of boat flares in Ocean County, NJ
🔵 Ocean County announces new program to safely dispose of boat flares
🔵 There is a day coming up where you can drop off your own flares to be disposed
🔵 It's a new safety initiative to keep Ocean County clean and boats safe
A new pilot program in Ocean County will help the thousands of recreational boaters who frequent the area safely dispose of old boat flares.
"Ocean County is home to about 25,000 recreational boaters and the Coast Guard requires all boaters to carry flares and flares typically have a four-year lifespan," Tony Agliata, Director, Ocean County Solid Waste Management tells Townsquare Media News.
They've done their research looking in what to do to help boaters in Ocean County.
"There's no program available to properly dispose of flares in the state of New Jersey," Agliata said. "What we wanted to do was to create a program for the safe and proper disposal of these flares."
It's become an issue over time as boaters have called their office wondering what to do with their old boat flares and what the county should do to help protect the local environment.
Then came this program.
"It took us a little bit of time and a little creativity but we developed this program, really, in an effort to keep the landfills free of this material, to keep the recycling yards free of this material, and also keep the waterways as safe as we can," Agliata said.
The day, the place, and the time of the Ocean County Boat Flare Disposal program is May 6 from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm at the Ocean County Fire Academy in Waretown.
"What will happen is we have trained fire professionals that are there to collect the flares," Agliata said. "We want the residents to stay in their car. After the residents leave, then we will safely dispose of the flares."
You have to register online beforehand thought and can do that by calling the Ocean County Solid Waste Management Office at 732-506-5047 or go to their website.
The county says only 600 appointments will be made available and you can only deposit up to 10 flares.
