Manteca’s popular free Shred-It event — skipped twice last year due to the pandemic — is returning on Saturday, April 24.

It is being repackaged as a community clean-up event with the ability to drop off some mattresses added. E-waste and car tires, as in the past, will still be accepted.

The city has yet to roll out a larger scale clean-up day for people to get rid of debris and such that won’t fit in waste carts. That was promised by municipal staff when the City Council directed city management earlier this year to make “beautifying” — or more precisely cleaning up unsightly debris, illegal trash dumping, and graffiti clean-up — a top priority.

The April 24 event is from 8 a.m. to noon at the solid waste division at 210 East Wetmore Street off of South Main.

In the past the twice-a-year shredding events have drawn between 800 and 1,100 vehicles.

The event is for City of Manteca residents only. No businesses can participate. Proof of residency is required. That can be a copy of a municipal utility bill or driver’s license.

Personal documents will be accepted for shredding that are dropped off in cardboard boxes or plastic bags.

E-waste such as monitors, computers, printers, TVs, and such are also being accepted.

You can drop off up to nine passenger car tires for disposal as well.

Mattresses will also be accepted this year. Items not eligible for recycling are water beds, futons or fold out sofas, air mattresses, mattress tops, mattresses that are soiled/cut/wet/or damaged, and any infested with bed bugs.

You can also pick up free compost courtesy Waste management if you bring your own bucket.

Personal ID theft

prompted first event

This will be the 34th time in 18 years for the free Manteca event. There are no other municipalities in Northern California that offer the free service although there are several that charge $5 a box.

The endeavor was launched 18 years ago as a crime prevention measure by the Manteca Police Department working in concert with the Solid Waste Division.

Detectives noted a growing number of ID theft cases involved suspects who had bought trash bags of pilloried information gleaned from blue recycling  carts set out for collection. Documents such as cancelled checks, billing statements, old tax forms, and even magazine labels and other mail that simply has a name and an address were being used to steal identities.

Paperwork stolen from blue carts still plays a significant role in ID theft today as does the stealing of mail despite the shift to paperless documents. Police have noted criminals often pay $25 for a bag of such material making household and business documents that are tossed potential source pf money for drug users and unscrupulous homeless people who rifle through carts and dumpsters.

Once carts with recyclables are placed on the street for collection they are property of the city and stealing items is a crime. However, it’s a law extremely hard to enforce which is why police came up with the free shred-it event. The first one was conducted on a National Night Out in conjunction with the Manteca Chamber of Commerce’s farmers’ market at Library Park.

Other recycling opportunities

offered by City of Manteca

The city has other free recycling services available.

*Electronic waste such as TVs, computers, printers, microwaves, phones and such can be dropped off Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Solid Waste Division office on Wetmore Street across from the water tower.

*Medical sharps as well as used batteries such as A, AA, AAA, C, and D are also accepted at the Solid Waste Division office on Wetmore Street Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Used light bulbs can be taken to the Manteca Home Depot store.

As for unwanted or expired medication, if you are unable to take them to the police department’s lobby drop box, there is another safe way of disposing of them.

Take a zip lock plastic bag, empty pills into the bag, pour in either milk or kitty litter, then smash the contents until it turns into a paste.

The zip lock bag of paste can then be tossed into the garbage.

It is illegal to flush prescriptions and over the counter drugs down the toilet or simply throw them into a garbage can.

The costs for staging the Shred It events are covered by solid waste fees paid each month by residents and businesses.

If you have questions, contact the solid waste division at (209) 456-8440).

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com