Ventura County launches carpet and plastic recycling efforts

Above, from left: PinnPack $2 million check presentation; ribbon-cutting at Del Norte Recycling Center.

The Ventura County, California, Public Works Agency’s (VCPWA) Integrated Waste Management Division (IWMD) commemorated the launch of two major recycling efforts at an event June 14, 2017, featuring a check presentation and ribbon-cutting ceremony at two Oxnard, California, recycling facilities. The new advances, administered through the Recycling Market Development Zone, which is managed in Ventura County by VCPWA IWMD, is designed to make it easier for residents and businesses to recycle both plastic bottles and residential/business carpeting. 

A $2 million check presentation of a loan to local recycling business PinnPack Packaging was awarded to help streamline its processes and make it more affordable to use more than 3,000 additional tons of recycled PET (polyetylene terephthalate) plastic. The new initiative will help PinnPack retain 168 jobs.

A ribbon cutting event at Del Norte Recycling Center marked the return of whole carpet recycling to Ventura County. Residents and businesses are now able to recycle whole carpets, separate from garbage, for a lower fee than dumping garbage at the station. The event concluded with the inaugural tossing of the first whole carpet sample in a recycling bin.

Both initiatives are designed to make recycled products more desirable economically while creating jobs and economic activity throughout the county. 

“These two initiatives not only demonstrate the economic, environmental and social value of investing in recycling,” says David Goldstein, VCPWA IWMD Recycling Market Development zone administrator. “They also illustrate how important it is to support local efforts that can ultimately have global consequences when we don’t have to outsource our recycling needs, such as reduction of greenhouse gases and stability of recycling markets.”

The event was attended by representatives from each of the various partners including CalRecycle, as well as a representative from the office of Congresswoman Julia Brownley, a representative from the office of state Senator Hannah Beth Jackson and Oxnard Mayor Pro Tem Carmen Ramirez. On behalf of County Supervisor John Zaragoza and the Ventura County board of supervisors, Lourdes Solorzano delivered commendations to both PinnPack and Del Norte Recycling Center.