By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

NORWAY – Dundee Pratt hears the jingle of loose change all the time, only it’s not in her pockets. It’s in other people’s trash.

“Over the years, I’ve learned to distinguish the different jingles in trash,” Pratt said Friday. Pratt and her husband, James, own Harris Bros. Rubbish Removal in Norway.

“I can tell the difference between change and glass, nails, screws, etc. It’s been bugging me for years that people throw away money,” she said.

It bugged her so much that she and her husband decided last year to put all that discarded loose change toward a good cause. The couple has been collecting change from their customers’ trash bags since last year, and this week they will donate the money – a total of $85.16 – to Christmas for Kids and Teens.

It’s a small amount because most of the change the Pratts collect is pennies. But they are trying to increase donations to the cause by challenging all local businesses in the Oxford Hills area to match the amount.

“In the five years that we have owned the company, we have been fascinated with all the money that people throw away,” the Pratts said in a letter to local businesses. “Last year we decided to save it and donate to a worthy cause such as Christmas for Kids and Teens.”

The job of collecting loose change from garbage isn’t as icky as it sounds. “You can just rip a corner of the bag and change is heavy enough to fall out,” Pratt said. However if a bag of garbage is particularly gross, she passes on it.

The Pratts decided their collection efforts and donation will be annual. “I started collecting the other day for next year,” she said.