Ventura Residents Get Rid of Tons of Trash on Free Dump Day

Tony Dykes figured Saturday was as good a day as any to get rid of his 16-year-old Sears Eager 1 power lawn mower. So the Ventura resident loaded it into his truck and hauled it to Buena High School.

Normally, the school is no place to dump a heap of old metal, but Saturday it was one of three Ventura sites set up for local residents to dispose of, recycle and donate their trash and old belongings at no charge.

The annual dump day was sponsored by Harrison Industries trash collection service, the Ventura Regional Sanitation District and other local groups. Organizers expected to collect several hundred tons of refuse for the day.

It was the third year that Dykes has participated in the free trash dump day.

“At the dump it’s $20 a load,” he said. “This is a savings. Besides, it beautifies the city.”

Beginning at 7 a.m., men, women and children showed up at the high school with boogie boards, televisions, furniture, wading pools, bicycles, screen doors and plenty of lawn trimmings.

By noon, cars and trucks filled to the brim with refuse were lined up outside the high school and about 70 tons of rubbish--half of that green waste--had been collected there.

The other two sites--Ventura High School and the Ecology Control Industries parking lot on Ventura Avenue--were less crowded than the overflowing Buena High.

Some folks saved up all year for the occasion. Others considered the free day an incentive to do some overdue housecleaning.

Helen Lupton and her husband, Ed, a former parks superintendent for the city of Ventura, were at Buena, happily unloading old roofing material from their green convertible Volkswagen.

“It’s tar, from underneath the covering board,” Helen Lupton said. “It’s 40-something years old.”

Mark Wachtman said he had been waiting for Saturday’s trash collection since last year.

“I collect stuff all year long for this,” he said, unloading scrap wood from his truck. “It’s better than piecemealing the garbage man to death.”

Although residents were supposed to be limited to one truckload per household, Vickie and Ray Gagnon said they made three trips to Buena to dump twigs and leaves. “We’ve been trimming the back yard. It’s down to nothing,” said Vickie Gagnon. “It’s sort of overgrown. This was a good incentive because it’s free.”

At Ventura High School, Ray Ealy of Child Abuse and Neglect Inc. was collecting items for the organization’s downtown Ventura thrift shop. By about 12:30 p.m., he had loaded a couple of school desks, a bunk bed, some gardening equipment and a typewriter into his truck, but he wasn’t too pleased with the turnout.

“I’ve been here since 7 a.m.,” he said. “And my truck’s barely half full.”

Carl Rylander and three friends were at Ventura High getting rid of a washer and dryer, a bed and a sink. “It was cluttering up,” he said.

At the Ecology Control Industries site, residents of the Ventura Avenue area, from Ventura to Casitas Springs, were taking advantage of the dumpsters, said Larry Garcia of Harrison Industries.

“We’ve been pretty busy,” he said. “A lot of yard trimmings, branches, and stuff.”

Gabriel Aguilar said he had about three-quarters of a ton of pine tree trimmings to unload.

“It’s from my back yard,” he said. “I started trimming this morning at 7.”

After leaving Ecology Control Industries, where he said he was allowed one visit, he planned to head over to Ventura High to deposit a second load.