COUNTYWIDE : WasteWatch Awards to Be Offered

Refill those old shampoo bottles. Bring that cardboard to the recycling center. Reuse those plastic bags. Encourage everyone in your company to do the same.

Then apply for a WasteWatch award.

To recognize residents who go out of their way to reduce pollution, save resources and create markets for recyclable goods, the Ventura Countywide Recycling Consortium is sponsoring the second annual WasteWatch awards.

Each city, plus Ventura County as a whole, will select winners who have excelled in one of five categories: reducing waste, reusing materials, recycling, composting and purchasing recycled goods.

Businesses, nonprofit organizations and schools are eligible for the prizes, plaques that will presented by city councils in public ceremonies.

Last year’s winners, culled from about 200 applications, included a dry cleaner that asked clients to drop off bags and hangers for reuse; a pet-care store that refilled customers’ bottles of shampoo, and a nonprofit foundation that collected food scraps from its cafeteria for a compost heap.

Applications, which are due March 22, are available at city halls and chambers of commerce or by calling the county’s Solid Waste Management Department at 654-2889.