Trash Flash

Recycling News for Ojai Residents

Summer 2013

Harrison, Agromin Celebrate 20 years as PartnersBefore 1993, most grass

clippings, tree branches and leaves from your front and back yards ended up in local landfi lls.

But, for the past two de-cades, Harrison Industries trucks have transported the yard waste from your home in the brown curbside con-tainer to Agromin.

Agromin uses cutting-edge technology to convert almost 380,000 tons of yard waste materials each year into its organic mulches, compost, wood chips and other products that natural-ly fertilize plants and trees.

Agromin produces more than 200 eco-friendly premium soil products and sells them at 41 retail loca-tions in Ventura County and throughout Southern California, as well as online at www.agromin.com. These products save water, help reduce soil erosion and reduce the use of non-organic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides – making our air and water cleaner.

As Harrison and Agromin celebrate their 20th anniversary of success as strategic partners in the “green” movement, the companies remain fully com-mitted to helping their franchise clients reach the state’s goal of 75 percent recycling by 2020. Most of our client cities are already near that level.

Over the past 20 years, Agromin has recycled more than 4 million tons of organic waste. The envi-ronmental Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions benefi t for not sending this material to landfi lls was 790.671 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of:u 102,564,102 trees – CO2 sequestered from the

number of tree seedlings grown for 10 years.u 1,838,769 barrels of oil – CO2 emissions from

barrels of oil consumed.

u 164,723 cars – CO2 emissions from passenger vehicles.u 118,364 homes –

CO2 emissions from en-ergy use of homes for one year.

However, the Harrisons and Agromin aren’t stop-ping there. In 2012, Harri-son and Agromin launched a pilot program designed to virtually eliminate food waste from landfi lls by installing a Covered Aer-ated Static Pile composting system that mixes organic yard waste Harrison trucks collect with food waste from local businesses to create enriched organic compost.

The food waste recy-cling program has grown to include over 50 Har-rison commercial custom-

ers from restaurants and supermarkets to hospitals, hotels, schools and the Ventura County jails.

Agromin, selected as the 2013 Small Business of the Year from Senate District 19 by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, also recently took delivery of an anaero-bic digester that will transform food waste into energy, with no combustion or burning involved. It’s strictly a low-temperature, clean and natural system that produces Biogas for electrical and heat production or transportation fuels such as compressed natural gas.

Harrison and Agromin hope to expand the food waste program to include other businesses and to one day offer the program to all their residential custom-ers.

Our goal to reach “Zero Waste” also will include working with our third strategic partner, Gold Coast Recycling & Transfer Station, to fi nd new and more effi cient ways to recycle the materials you place in your blue curbside container, while also improving air quality.

Page 2Summer 2013 Trash Flash

Join the Crowd at Coastal Cleanup Day on Sept. 21

Be part of the solution to marine pollution by joining 80,000 others statewide who will be taking part in

the 29th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day on Satur-day, Sept. 21.

From 9 a.m. to noon, volunteers will remove debris from the coast, creeks, rivers, lakes and shorelines all around California protecting wildlife from harm while taking care of our environment.

In 2012, more than 1.2 million pounds of trash and recyclables were removed from beaches, lakes and waterways statewide. In Ventura County alone, 3,346 volunteers picked up 9,077 pounds of trash and salvaged 1,893 pounds of recyclable material.

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 harmed marine life.

This year, organizers are mobilizing people along the California Coast to clean up debris that was washed away from Japan during the March 2011 tsunami.

Coming at the end of the summer beach season and right near the start of the school year, Coastal Cleanup Day is a great way for families, students, service groups and neighbors to join together. Coastal Cleanup Day helps us take care of our fragile marine environment, shows community support for our shared natural re-sources, and teaches us about the impacts of marine debris and how we can prevent harm to the marine envi-ronment while having fun!

To keep from generating even more trash at the cleanup, remember to bring your own reusable con-tainer or bag for trash collection, gloves and water. Wear sunscreen.

There are close to 20 cleanup sites in Ventura Coun-ty, 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.

See you at the beach (or river, or lake, or creek)!

Cartons Now Accepted in Your Blue Recycling Bin

Have you been throwing cartons, cloth-ing and worn-out tennis shoes in your

green trash barrel? From now on, place them in your blue recycling barrel. All are now in demand to be recycled into new products.

Cartons that are now accepted fall into two categories: shelf-stabled and refriger-ated.

Shelf-stabled include:u Juiceu Milku Soy and grain milku Soup and brothu Wine

Refrigerated include:u Juiceu Milku Creamu Egg substitutesu Soy and grain milk

For more information, call 642-9236.

Pay Bills and Order Services Online

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

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

Trash FlashPage 3

Summer 2013

Scavenging from Curbside Barrels is Illegal – and Costly

Scavenging from curbside trash and recycling bar-rels is illegal in Ojai and should be reported.You may not realize it, but scavengers searching

in barrels for aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic containers and other recyclable materials can cost you money in the long run since recyclables that E.J. Harrison & Sons collect are used to help off-set our service costs.

Another concern about scavengers is they also might seek or fi nd documents containing personal information like Social Security and credit card num-bers. You can help prevent identity theft by shredding documents with personal information before placing them in your blue recycling container.

You should not approach people caught scaveng-ing. Instead, call the Ojai Police Department 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.

Call Us to Collect Your Bulky Items

What do you do with that lumpy, worn-out sofa

that you want to get rid of? How about that old refrigerator or oven that hasn’t work in years but takes up valuable space in your garage?

Don’t leave the old eyesores in your front yard or on the curb and hope they miraculously disappear. Call E.J. Harrison & Sons instead.

Once a year, Ojai residents are eligible for two bulky items that are too big for your trash bin – like broken furniture and kitchen appliances – to be col-lected at no additional cost.

To arrange collection, call 647-1414.

2013 Pickup ScheduleJune 17 Green WasteJune 24 RecyclingJuly 1 Green WasteJuly 8 RecyclingJuly 15 Green WasteJuly 22 RecyclingJuly 29 Green WasteAug. 5 RecyclingAug. 12 Green WasteAug. 19 RecyclingAug. 26 Green Waste*Sept. 3 RecyclingSept. 9 Green WasteSept. 16 RecyclingSept. 23 Green WasteSept. 30 RecyclingOct. 7 Green WasteOct. 14 RecyclingOct. 21 Green WasteOct. 28 RecyclingNov. 4 Green WasteNov. 11 RecyclingNov. 18 Green WasteNov. 25 RecyclingDec. 2 Green WasteDec. 9 RecyclingDec. 16 Green WasteDec. 23 RecyclingDec. 30 Green Waste

*Pickup delayed due to holiday

2013 Holiday ScheduleLooking ahead, these are the holidays

that will delay trash collection one day:Labor Day Monday, Sept. 2

these are the holidays that will not delay trash collection one day:

Independence Day Thursday, July 4 Veterans’ Day Monday, Nov. 11 Thanksgiving Thursday, Nov. 28

Christmas Wednesday, Dec. 25

Page 4Summer 2013

Printed on Recycled Paper

STOPNo Hazardous

Waste!!These items are NOT accepted for

Trash or Recycling.u Hazardous Waste u Tires u TVs/Computer Monitors u Batteriesu Closed Containers u Oil or Paintsu Fluorescent Light Tubes u Medical Needles

For information on how to dispose of these items, please call: • County of Ventura Hotline 658-4323

E.J. Harrison & SonsRecycling, Yard Waste and Trash Guidelines

What goes in the Trash?

What Doesn’t go in the Trash or any other cart?

Hopefully, very little. After you have recycled, composted, fi lled the yard waste cart, donated old clothing and goods, and done all of those good things and more – most of the rest can go in the trash.

How to Place Your Cart for Automated Collection

The automated arm of the collection truck needs room to grab the cart. Carts should be placed 2-3 feet apart from each other and from objects such as mailboxes and cars with the wheels facing the curb.

Carts should be out by 7:00 a.m. on collection days.

2-3 ft.2-3 ft.

Trash Flash

City of OjaiCity Manager: Robert Clark • Mayor: Paul Blatz • Mayor Pro Tem: Carlon Strobel

council Members: Betsy Clapp, Severo Lara & Carol Smith

Extra trash?Call for roll-offs and bin rentals.

Open 6 days a week for self-haul trash, e-waste and recyclables buy-back.

Complete the recycling loop... get mulch and soil amend-ments at:

(805) 642-9236

www.ejharrison.com www.agromin.com(805) 647-1414

www.goldcoastrecycling.com(805) 485-9200

Cartons

Aluminum &Metal Cans Glass

Containers

Paper/Junk Mail

Newspaper

MagazinesCardboard

Cereal, Cracker & Shoe Boxes

including nursery pots, yogurt containers and toys

All Hard Plastics thru

NO Styrofoam

All Plastic Bags, Film Plastic and Shrink Wrap