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For Eco-Tip 11/04/18 Grocery question changes from “Paper or Plastic?” By David Goldstein, Ventura County Public Works Agency, Water and Sanitation Dept For years, the grocery store checkout query, “Paper or plastic?” raised questions about environmental impact. Now, your choices are to go without a bag, bring your own, or pay 10 cents for a…

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CONCRETE AND ASPHALT

The most recycled material    By David Goldstein, Ventura County PWA, IWMD    The most recycled material in Ventura County cannot be placed in your curbside recycling cart  or in any commercial recycling bin. Nevertheless, concrete and asphalt, referred to in the waste  management industry as “inerts,” are recycled in amounts larger than any other material and at  a higher percentage than nearly any material. (A few items with higher recycling rates, for  example, car batteries, also have a separate collection system).    Although inerts are recycled every day by nearly a dozen local facilities spread throughout  Ventura County, the material does not belong in a curbside recycling cart or a commercial  recycling bin for two reasons. First, inerts could injure sorters, damage sorting equipment, and  contaminate recyclables if handled through our local processing system.     Secondly, weight limits on most containers preclude inerts. For this latter reason, concrete is  also not suitable for curbside garbage carts, except in small amounts. Weight limits are often  printed on the cart. Anything heavier can make the cart too heavy for the garbage truck’s  automated truck arm to lift.     Instead, there are three main ways to recycle concrete. First, if you have only a single chunk of  concrete under three feet in diameter (resulting, for example, from removing a basketball post  from a driveway), some garbage collection companies will allow you to use your free annual  bulky item collection allocation and will come to your home and load it into their lift‐gate truck  in response to your call. Second, if you have enough concrete to justify the cost, you might  order a “low‐boy” (short sided) roll‐off box instead of a bin from your refuse collector. Costing  about twice as much as a three‐cubic‐yard bin, not including per‐ton charges, a roll‐off is like  the back of a truck. It rolls on and off a trailer attached to the truck’s cab.     If you can haul concrete yourself, another option is to bring the material to an inert recycling  facility, which will crush it into small pieces for reuse as new road base.  Some inert recyclers  charge a flat fee (between $80 and $200) to accept loads of concrete or asphalt, and others  charge by the size or weight of the load.     If you bring concrete to a landfill, keep it separate from other waste so it can be reused for onsite roads. The Simi Valley Landfill and Recycling Center charges for separated concrete only  about half the price they charge for garbage.     City and County contracts with haulers and landfills also provide for free collection events or  free disposal days. Inerts are often sorted from mixed roll‐off bins of construction debris hauled  from these events. Eye on the Environment articles are published Sundays in the Ventura County Star newspaper, monthly…

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FLEET ENVIRONMENTAL IMPROVEMENTS

Eco‐Tip for 9‐2‐18 Fleet environmental improvements and upcoming event    By David Goldstein, PWA, IWMD    Auto fleet managers crave small improvements in efficiency because, multiplied by the number of cars in a fleet, these changes can make a big difference. Sometimes, these changes can also provide significant benefits for the environment. In recent years, the fleet managed by the County of Ventura’s General Services Agency…

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FIRE SAFE LANSCAPING

Eco-tip for 8-17-18 FIRE-SAFE LANDSCAPING By Dr. Sabrina Drill, Natural Resources Advisor, Ventura County, University of California Cooperative Extension With wildfires seemingly becoming the new norm within the drought-stricken southwestern states, homeowners may feel helpless in trying to make their homes and properties less vulnerable to unpredictable fires. However, while wildfires may never be eliminated,…