Southern California Edison recently sent letters to many customers in Ventura County notifying them of the possibility power may be shut off in high risk areas during times of dangerous fire conditions. Electronics and food are two major categories of waste resulting from power outages, but this waste can be prevented. Eco-Tip for 9-30-18 Avoiding…
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Eco-Tip for 9-23-18 Rideshare Week 2018: It’s your life, enjoy the ride! by Susana Andres For most, driving to work, school, errands or appointments, are trips done alone. In Ventura County 77.5% of workers drive to work by themselves. In contrast, others shared their trip with a colleague or neighbor with a similar itinerary cut…
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Coastal Cleanup Day Today & A River Friend Tomorrow By Candice Meneghin, Friends of the Santa Clara River This Saturday, International Coastal Cleanup Day is likely to once again break records as the world’s largest volunteer event. Last year Ventura County saw a 21% increase in volunteerism, with 3,313 people volunteering their time to clean up our county’s waterways and beaches. Data collected from past cleanups has changed public policy related to plastic consumerism, reduction, and recycling. California, where the event began, has already passed a statewide ban on single use plastic bags, and many cities are phasing out plastic straws. The next target may be plastic food wrappers and cigarette butts – the top two most frequently collected plastic items during Coastal Cleanup Day. This day of volunteerism provides an opportunity to show our care for the natural environment and its wildlife. We acknowledge our actions are the problem, but we too are the solution. In June 2018 the Ocean Protection Council released its Final Ocean Litter Prevention Strategy, outlining ways to address problems with plastic. Working with manufacturers to streamline packaging and reduce plastic is key, but our consumer choices and behaviors are also part of the solutions. The mission of Friends of the Santa Clara River, a non‐profit public interest organization formed in 1993, is to protect and preserve biological and cultural resources of the Santa Clara River Watershed, one of Southern California’s last free‐flowing and unchannelized rivers. We engage in a number of outreach, education and community volunteer opportunities with youth groups and our local community throughout the year. For Coastal Cleanup Day, in partnership with the Camarillo branch of the California Conservation Corps and Ventura County Coalition for Coastal & Inland Waterways , we will host a cleanup site at McGrath State Park. Our site will award prizes for the top three most interesting trash treasures. You can win additional prizes by participating in a countywide photo competition using the hashtag #vccoastcleanup2018. The cleanup will happen at over 20 sites simultaneously in Ventura County on September 15 from 9:00 am to noon. Walk‐ins are welcome at all sites. You can find a list and map of the sites at Ventura County Coalition for Coastal & Inland Waterways website: http://www.vccoastcleanup.org/. Prepare by wearing closed shoes and sunscreen, bringing your own bucket and gloves to reduce waste, and filling out a waiver (http://www.vccoastcleanup.org/get‐involved/). Waivers are available online in both English and Spanish. More information on Friends of the Santa Clara River can be found at. www.fscr.org or at our 25th anniversary Silver Streams Gala Celebration held on September 16, 2018 3:30‐6:30pm at Rancho Cumulos in Piru. Tickets are available at https://fscr.org/25th‐anniversary/. On the net: https://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/ccd.html www.vccoastcleanup.org Eye on the Environment articles are published Sundays in the Ventura County Star newspaper, monthly in the Ventura…
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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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VCPWA’s Transportation Department has recently completed a project to improve bus stops on the Kanan Shuttle route in the Oak Park area.Various shuttle stops have been improved, including the stops on Kanan Road that serve the area near Medea Creek Middle School and Oak Park High School. The improvements include adding amenities to the stops…
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