Camarillo to Collect Recyclables : Ecology: A city official expects the program to divert 15 tons of trash a day from the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard.

The city of Camarillo has launched a recycling program for 3,500 residences, joining a growing number of cities in Ventura County that pick up a portion of residents’ recyclables at the curb.

Single-family households in the western part of the city are receiving 45-gallon sky-blue recycling containers for glass, metals, plastic and newspapers, said Rebecca Radonich, city recycling coordinator.

All the containers are scheduled to be delivered by Tuesday.

Collections will begin the week of Feb. 11.

Every single-family household in the city--12,000 in all--will have the containers by May, Radonich said.

Single-family houses are defined under the program as dwellings with four or fewer attached units.

The cities of Ventura, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula, Fillmore and Ojai have similar curbside recycling programs.

Moorpark’s recycling program is scheduled to begin in two months, and Oxnard will start a pilot project for 3,000 single-family residences in February, officials said.

Port Hueneme officials are discussing a program.

As have other cities, Camarillo undertook the recycling project in response to a state law mandating that cities reduce trash by 25% by 1995 and 50% by 2000, Radonich said.

Radonich said she expects the program to divert 15 tons of recyclable materials a day from the Bailard Landfill in Oxnard.

The city generates an estimated 102 tons of single-family residence trash per day, and 150 tons of commercial and multiunit residence trash, she said.

Camarillo officials were also concerned about the available space at Bailard Landfill, City Councilwoman Charlotte Craven said.

The landfill’s operating permit is scheduled to expire in 1993, and some Oxnard officials oppose an extension.

A possible alternative site for a western county landfill is Weldon Canyon near California 33 and Canada Larga Road.

“Bailard cannot go on forever,” Craven said. “We need to make sure we don’t overload it before the Weldon Canyon site gets on line. We think (recycling) is so important that we are going citywide immediately.”

Preservation of natural resources also influenced the decision to recycle, she said.

“It saves electricity, gas, trees, keeps pollution from happening,” she said. “It takes less gas and electricity to produce a new can or bottle from recycled materials than from virgin materials.”

Recycling one ton of paper, for example, saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water, Radonich said.

The point of Camarillo’s program is to make recycling easy and convenient for residents, she said.

Items that can be recycled include plastic milk cartons, detergent bottles, bags, soup cans, animal food cans and corrugated cardboard.

Newspapers can be put on top of the container or alongside in a paper bag.

E. G. Harrison & Sons, the city’s trash hauler, will collect the materials weekly and take them to the Gold Coast Recycling facility in Ventura, where they will be sorted and sold, Radonich said.

Recyclables and trash will be picked up the same day.

A monthly charge of $1.87 will be added to residents’ trash bills to cover the costs of pickup and the containers, which are $20 each, Radonich said.

Residents who have a single trash can pay a refuse collection rate of $15.30 a month.

The hauler’s processing and marketing costs will be met by the sales of the recyclables, Radonich said.

Any additional money from the sales will be placed in the city’s solid waste fund and earmarked for the program, she said.

Support for the program has been overwhelming, officials say.

Last weekend, 70-year-old Joanna Whipple joined more than 80 volunteers who walked throughout the city and explained the program.

Whipple, a 27-year Camarillo resident, said she found only curiosity and approval at the 42 houses she visited.

“They are in favor of it. I didn’t get any back talk on it,” she said.

Whipple, who lives on Euclid Avenue, recently received her recycling container, which she keeps next to the garage.

“The dumps are getting filled, and we are not going to have space to put our cans, bottles and paper,” she said. “We take four newspapers a day. And that takes up a lot. We have to do something with this rubbish.”