Tybee Island Recycling Center
Sandy Bottoms at your Service
“I’ve lost my wife,” he said.
It was afternoon and hot, the sun was baking down on the Tybee Island streets like a heat lamp over cheap gas station biscuits. My two bit office was hot and
stuffy.
“We were on the beach together. My wife was right there, talking with the woman on the tractor, then next thing I knew, she was gone.”
His wife was lost and my job is to find lost people. I’m a private eye. I’m the only private eye on Tybee Island. My name is Sandy Bottoms and I work cheap.
“Sir, you sit down right there. Give me thirty minutes and I’ll be right back with her.”
“But…how can you know where she is that fast?” he wondered. “That’s amazing.”
I gave him a smile and a wink as I headed out the door.
“Trust me, “I said, “I know where she is.”
Within ten minutes, I was walking up to the Tybee Island Recycling Center. The Tybee Island Recycling Center has been in operation for just over six months and
has already processed five tons of aluminum. There are 64,000 beer cans in a ton of aluminum. Most of those cans come from the beach. That’s 320,000 cans of
beer, or 29,000 gallons. To get all those cans, the staff takes a tractor and a trailer out to collect cans from the beach. They also look to pick up some volunteers
along the way. That’s how they got this man’s wife.
The Recycling Center is always looking for volunteers to help sort out cans and plastic bottles. Or to help load cardboard into the balers. This is good work,
meaningful work, for people who want to give back to this wonderful community we have.
Sure enough, there was the missing wife, listening to loud music, laughing, and loading cardboard into the baler. She was having fun with the staff and was
smiling from ear to ear.
As I loaded her into my car, she was promising to come back and to bring her friends. The staff waved goodbye and we drove back to her husband. They were so
happy to see each other and to be reunited. For me, this was just another case solved.
“Makes sense she was at the recycling center,” he said. “She is my third wife. Guess you could say she is recycling me as well.”
I smiled at the joke, then I doubled his bill. I may work cheap, but that doesn’t mean I like cheap jokes.
The Tybee Island Recycling Center always needs your help. The work is easy and inspiring, as you are helping others who believe in our community. Just send an
email to the volunteer coordinator at jaimewhalen@yahoo.com to get the ball rolling. And as always, thank you for recycling your material on Tybee.
Visit Our Website at Tybeeeats.com
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**PLEASE NOTE our delivery fee and gratuities are not included when you
pre-pay with your favorite restaurant. $8 Flat Fee on Tybee & $20 on Wilmington
912-547-4190
TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | SEPT 2020 37
Tips are Cool!
By Monty Parks
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