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Trading Trash for Cash

Tom Flanigan

The City of Tallahassee was trading trash for a $5 credit on customers' utility bills on Saturday (10/. The twice-yearly "Cash for Trash" brings in throwaways by the ton.

Even though FSU's home game started right in the middle of the event, City Recycling Coordinator Paul Hurst said the collection must go on.

"These events have for many years been the third Saturday in April and the third Saturday in October," he noted, adding that they typically resulted in hundreds of vehicles dropping off many tons of appliances, electronics and other waste.

As to the strangest discard Hurst has seen?

"Somebody brought in a boat hull," Hurst laughed. "It was pretty well rotted out, but it was the entire boat hull, probably a 20-foot boat and it was on a trailer and our grappler just grabbed it and crunched it and it just of half-way fell apart and half-way went into the dump truck, but that was an interesting sight!"

Each of the qualifying drop-offs was good for a $5 City utility bill credit.

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Tom Flanigan has been with WFSU News since 2006, focusing on covering local personalities, issues, and organizations. He began his broadcast career more than 30 years before that and covered news for several radio stations in Florida, Texas, and his home state of Maryland.

Find complete bio, contact info, and more stories. here.