Recycling of Phone Books Is Planned

Ventura County’s first program for recycling telephone books will begin Saturday with a bonus of free oak seedlings for the first 2,000 recyclers arriving at seven drop-off points in the county’s west end.

The pilot program is designed to keep last year’s phone books out of the county landfill following the delivery by GTE and Pacific Bell of an estimated 250,000 new books to residences in Ventura, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Camarillo and Ojai.

Area residents who recycle help the environment by conserving landfill space and saving trees, said Victoria Hand, county recycling coordinator.

“Every ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees,” Hand said. “This is a wonderful program during Earth Day month,” she said, referring to April 22 and the activities planned in Ventura County and nationwide to focus attention on the environment.

The county coordinated the phone book recycling program with help and donations from the Ventura Regional Sanitation District and private industry.

E.J. Harrison, the trash hauler for much of the county’s west end, will supply the recycling bins for most drop-off sites at no charge, but the cost to haul the books and prepare them for market costs $60 per ton, Hand said.

Pacific Bell paid $2,000 for the seedlings, which are native trees that take relatively little water. Five hundred of the seedlings will be handed out at Bailard Landfill. Other sites will have fewer seedlings to distribute.

The phone book recycling program, which officials hope will recoup up to 20% of those thrown out in the county’s west end, will continue through April 29.

The following is a list of the drop-off sites:

CAMARILLO City Hall, 601 Carmen Drive; April 28 and 29, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Adolfo Road and Santa Rosa Road (behind the Unocal Station); April 28 and 29, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

OJAI Ojai Anti-Litter Station, California 150 and Old Baldwin Road; April 14, 21 and 22, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

OXNARD Bailard Landfill, 4105 W. Gonzales Road; Saturdays, April 14, 21 and 28, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sundays, April 22 and 29, 12 noon to 3 p.m.

Oxnard State Beach Park, Peninsula Road and Channel Islands Boulevard; April 22, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

PORT HUENEME Community Center, 550 Park Ave.; April 21 and 22, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

VENTURA

Silverstrand Beach, Channel Islands Beach (Cahuenga Drive and Roosevelt Boulevard); April 21, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Ventura Harbor Village, 1901 Spinnaker Drive (next to Channel Islands Park); April 21, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.