Trash Flash

Recycling News for Ojai Businesses & Multi-Family Complexes

Fall 2016

Harrison Food Waste Recycling Program Keeps Expanding

The Ojai Valley Inn & Spa is one of the newest Harrison

commercial customers in Ojai that participates in the

food waste program.

When Harrison Indus-

tries and strategic

partner Agromin Premium

Soil Products launched

their pilot commercial

food waste program in

April 2012, the Albertsons

supermarkets in Camaril-

lo, Ventura and Carpinte-

ria were their only cus-

tomers.

From its humble begin-

nings, the food waste-recy-

cling program has grown

to include 120 participants

– mostly restaurants and

supermarkets but also

hospitals and schools.

Participants include Community Memorial Hospital

in Ventura, Ojai Valley Community Hospital, the

Ventura County Jail’s Todd Road facility in the Santa

Clara Valley and the Ventura County Juvenile Justice

Center in El Rio.

In the past year, businesses that have joined the

food waste program include the Ojai Valley Inn &

Spa , Smart & Final supermarkets in Ventura and Car-

pinteria, Vista del Mar Hospital in Ventura and Omni

Catering in Carpinteria.

Where do the food

scraps go? Harrison

trucks collect the food

scraps from the par-

ticipants and transport

the scraps to Agromin,

which employs a Cov-

ered Aerated Static Pile

System to mix them

with yard waste to cre-

ate enriched compost.

These products save

water, help reduce soil

erosion and reduce

the use of non-organic

fertilizers, pesticides

and herbicides – mak-

ing our air and water

cleaner.

How much food waste has been diverted from our

landfi lls since 2012? Food waste coordinator Donald

Sealund reports that 5,787 tons have been diverted

through 2015. That’s a lot of food scraps!

Harrison has purchased an anaerobic digester and

is in the permitting process, and when in service, it

can use food waste to create energy.

For more information on the food waste program,

call Sealund at 647-1414, ext. 4318.

Clean Dumpsters Help Protect Our Rivers & Beaches

Despite the ongoing drought, it’s still likely to rain at some point this winter. As a business

owner, it is your responsibility to do your part to prevent storm water pollution. An easy way to help is to regularly monitor your trash and recycling dumpsters during the rainy season and keep these best practices in mind:

u Report a leaking dumpster to E.J. Harrison & Sons (647-1414) so it can be repaired or replaced.

u Keep dumpsters covered and impermeable to rainwater. If there are no covers on the dumpster, provide overhead coverage. Keep them from overfl owing and regularly clean up loose trash.

u Keep any outside garbage, recycling, food waste or compost

containers covered and away from storm drains.

u Restaurants should not store cooking oil and grease containers in uncovered areas.

Page 2Fall 2016 Trash Flash

Here’s How to Safely Dispose of Medical Sharps

Improper disposal of used

“sharps” (needles, syringes,

and lancets) can injure others—

including family members and

friends. So be sure to get rid of

them safely.

Here’s how: Pick up your free

biohazard rigid plastic sharps

containers at the Ojai Valley

Community Hospital located at

1306 Maricopa Highway, between

8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Appointments

are required. Call 640-2279. Take

the container home and, when it is three-quarters full,

return it to OVCH for proper disposal and pick up a

new container.

For safety reasons, sharps will not be accepted in

Roll-Off Bins Are Available to Local Businesses

Harrison Industries offers roll-off service and

bins for businesses with big jobs that require

large solid waste disposal. Roll-

off containers can be rented on a

temporary basis and are available

in a range of sizes – with 3, 10, 25

and 40 cubic yards of space – to fi t

your needs.

u 3-yard bins are ideal for

home, garage and garden cleanup.

u 10-yard bins are

for concrete, dirt, as-

phalt and sod remov-

al. They also are good

for removing other

heavy material.

u 25-yard bins are

for larger concrete,

dirt, asphalt and sod

removal projects.

u 40-yard bins are

ideal for construc-

tion sites, roofi ng

projects, land clear-

ing, weed abate-

ment and demoli-

tion. They also are

good to remove

large furniture and appliances.

Service is fast, reliable and economical. For more

information and rates, call 647-1414.

3-yard bin

10-yard bin

25-yard bin

40-yard bin

liquid detergent or bleach bottles,

coffee cans, glass containers,

milk jugs, or soda bottles. Below

are some disposal guidelines:

u Sharps should be placed

into a container immediately

after use.

u Do not attempt to remove,

bend, break, or recap the needle.

u Keep all sharps and dis-

posal containers out of the reach

of children.

u Do not dispose of sharps in

curbside trash or recycling carts.

For additional details, please call the Ventura

County Environmental Health Division at (805)

654-5007.

‘Dumpster Diving’ is Illegal – and Should Be Reported

“Dumpster diving” from commercial

containers and roll-off bins is illegal in

Ojai and should be reported.

You may not realize it, but scavengers

searching in bins for aluminum cans, glass

bottles, plastic containers and other recy-

clable materials may be looking for more than

just recyclables. They also might seek or fi nd

documents containing personal information

like Social Security and credit card numbers.

You can help prevent identity theft by shred-

ding documents with personal information

before placing them in your recycling con-

tainers.

In some areas, residents have reported

bands of people being dropped in neighbor-

hoods to search through bins just before col-

lection time.

You should not approach people caught

scavenging. Instead, call the Ojai Police De-

partment at 646-1414. If the person is driving,

please note the color, make and model of the

vehicle and write down its license number, if

possible.

A good way to prevent “dumpster diving”

is to lock your bin. E.J. Harrison & Sons offers

its commercial customers locks for a monthly

fee. For more information, call 647-1414.

Trash FlashPage 3

Fall 2016

Join the Crowd at Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 17

Dropped butts end up on our coast and waterways where they leach lead, arsenic and other harmful chemicals.

help us get them off our beaches.

California Coastal Cleanup

Day, recognized by the

Guinness Book of World

Records as the world’s largest

beach cleanup day, is set for

Saturday, Sept. 17.

Join close to 70,000 others

statewide who will be taking

part in the event. From 9

a.m. to noon, volunteers

will remove debris from the

coast, creeks, rivers, lakes

and shorelines throughout

California, protecting wildlife

from harm while taking care

of our environment.

Last year, more than

68,000 people removed

1,142,997 pounds of trash and recyclable material

from California’s coast and inland waterways. In

Ventura County alone, more than 3,000 dedicated

volunteers collected almost 10,000 pounds of trash

and recyclables.

Over its 31-year history, 1.3 million volunteers

have removed more than 22 million pounds of debris

from our state’s beaches, lakes, and waterways.

Thousands of cigarette butts and lots of plastic

bags, as well as other trash, were removed and

prevented from going out to sea where they would

have had a negative effect on marine life.

Coastal Cleanup Day

is a quick, effective, and

rewarding opportunity to

give something back to

our community and the

environment by spending

just three hours of your

morning picking up trash

while enjoying a local park

or beach. You can make your

contribution even greater and

cut down on the trash created

at the Cleanup by bringing

your own reusable supplies

(water bottle, gardening

gloves, trash bucket etc.).

Safety is a top priority for any

beach cleanup, so wear a hat,

sunscreen, gloves and closed-toe shoes.

Coastal Cleanup Day helps us take care of our

fragile marine environment, shows community

support for our shared natural resources, and teaches

us about the impacts of marine debris and how we

can prevent harm to the marine environment while

having fun!

There are close to 20 cleanup sites in Ventura

County, one in Ojai. Participants will meet in Libbey

Park at the lower tennis courts parking lot. For all

participating beaches and waterways, visit www.

vccoastcleanup.org.

T F

City Seeks Help in Street-Sweeping Program

The City of Ojai asks for your cooperation in its street-sweeping program.Street-sweeping services are required as a

best management practice to reduce the amount of trash and other pollutants from entering the storm drain system, rivers and ocean. The pres-ence of parked cars on sweeping routes reduces the ability of the sweepers to do an effective job.

All city streets are swept on the fi rst and third Tuesday of each month – the day follow-ing your Monday trash pickup. Help keep Ojai beautiful by not parking on the street in com-mercial areas before 7 a.m. and in residential areas between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on street-sweeping days.

Please do your part to keep your streets clean. By moving your trash containers and cars off the street on these days, the cleaner your streets will be. Also remember, streets drain into

our storm drains which empty into our rivers and ocean.

For more information or if you have ques-tions, call Ojai’s Public Works Department at 646-5581, ext. 209.

Page 4Fall 2016 Trash Flash

Harrison Commercial CustomersRecycling Guidelines

STOPNo Hazardous

Waste!!

These items are NOT accepted for Trash or Recycling.

u Hazardous Waste

u TVs/Computer Monitors

u Fluorescent Light Tubes

u Oil or Paints

u Closed Containers

u Medical Needles

u Tires

u Batteries

For information on how to dispose of

these items, please call Ojai: 658-4323

City of OjaiInterim City Manager: Steve McClary

Mayor: Paul Blatz Mayor Pro Tem: William Weirick

council Members:Betsy Clapp, Randy Haney

& Severo Lara

Got a lot of trash?Try a Harrison roll-off

or bin rental.

Convenient &

Affordable.

Got a little bit of trash?Take it to

Gold Coast

Recycling &

Transfer Station.

Multi-Family Dwellings - Recycling is Mandatory!

Call

E.J. Harrison

& Sons for

recycling

containers.

5275 Colt St. • Ventura

(805) 642-9236

www.goldcoastrecycling.com

www.ejharrison.com

(805) 647-7786, ext. 4349

(805) 647-1414

1-800-41 TRASH

Printed on Recycled Paper

www.ejharrison.com

Pay Bills and Order Services Online

6

Medical Sharps RecyclingYou can bring your used needles and

lancets (sharps) to Ojai Valley Community

Hospital for proper and convenient disposal. Call

640-2279 for more information.

Magazines

NewspaperPaper/

Junk Mail

Aluminum & Metal Cans

Glass Containers

Cardboard

No Trash

including nursery pots, yogurt containers and toys.

NO Plastic Bags, Styrofoam, Film Plastic or Shrink Wrap.

All Hard Plastics thru

No Medical Sharps

Cartons

Cereal, Cracker & Shoe Boxes

Go to Harrison’s website at www.ejharrison.com to

pay your bills with a credit card or e-check and to order services online. It’s easy. Check it out!