“Dance like no one is watching,” wrote Susannah Clarke and Richard Lee in 1987.
Today, “recycle like everyone else is watching” is one of the slogans Keep America Beautiful uses to promote America’s Recycle Day on November 15th.
Keep America Beautiful, a non-profit organization supported primarily by major corporations and public agencies, took over the national coordination of the celebration, also known as National Recycle Day, from the National Recycling Coalition in 2009, sponsoring approximately 3,000 related events in all 50 states. contributed to the promotion last year.
Indeed, community expectations are one of the motivations for recycling. If all your neighbors have well-prepared recycling and organic carts, everyone uses recyclable bins at work, and all fellow guests at social gatherings are following the waste sorting instructions, then you should Failure to recycle can be embarrassing. Evasion of citizen responsibility.
But how do we reach people who don’t respond to such appeals? Indeed, how do we reach people who are fed up with environmental messages in general?
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s American Recycling Day website (www.epa.gov/recyclingstrategy/america-recycles-day) has a good answer. The site emphasizes that recycling contributes not only to “protecting our environment” but also to “prospering America.” The site highlights EPA research showing that “recycling and reuse activities in the United States account for 681,000 jobs and $37.8 billion in wages.”
On November 21, Ventura County America Recycle Day Celebration organizers will highlight three companies recently approved for low-interest loans through the Ventura County Recycle Market Development Zone Program, coordinated by the Ventura County Public Utilities Authority. emphasizes the economic benefits of recycling. Low-interest (fixed-rate 4%) loans for this program come from state funds derived from landfill chip fee surcharges collected by the California Department of Resource Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). The entirety of Ventura County is in the Recycling Market Development District, with incentives for all local businesses to make products from waste. California has approximately 40 state designated zones. In addition to financing, Zone staff assist businesses with permits, site selection, obtaining materials for manufacturing, and other financing.
The public will be invited to present checks to these companies at three locations on Monday, November 21st.
First, at 8:30 a.m. at the Ventura County Government Center, District 1 Supervisor Matt LaVert joined Loan Officer Bruce Quigley, a CalRecycle representative, to issue a $1,204,000 loan. Present the representative mock check to Arturo, owner of Progressive Environmental Industries. Gonzalez. Gonzalez has a mulching business in Santa Barbara and will soon complete a permit to reopen his second location, his Ojai Valley Organics.
Next, at 10 a.m., Vianey Lopez, Ventura County District 5 Supervisor, toured the Oxnard Pallet Company at 4524 East Pleasant Valley Road before joining CalRecycle representatives and talking to the company’s owner. Present a mock check representing a loan of $535,000 to Beatrice Vasquez. This loan will help Oxnard Pallet Company dismantle and repair out-of-spec broken used pallets and turn these wastes into valuable standard 48” x 40” her 4-way pallets.
Finally, at 11:45 a.m., Supervisor Vianey Lopez will show a product sample at Pinnpack Plastic Packaging to participate in CalRecycle and raise $11 million, the largest in the market development program’s 30-year statewide history. Present the dollar mock check to CEO Ira. Malofian. Located at 1151 Pacific Avenue in Oxnard, Pinnpack not only uses more recycled plastic in its packaging, but also enters the “circular economy” by making its own packaging and other non-bottle PET plastics recyclable.
Together, these companies employ more than 250 people, contribute to local economies through property taxes, sales taxes, donations and purchases from suppliers, and produce valuable products needed by individuals and other businesses. I’m here.
Learn more about America Recycles Day and the companies listed here:
kab.org/programs/ard/organize-an-event/
www.epa.gov/recyclingstrategy/america-recycles-day
Progressive Inns.com
oxnardpalletco.com
www.pinnpack.com
David Goldstein manages the Ventura County Recycling Market Development Zone for Public Works and can be reached at 805-658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org.
