VENTURA : E.J. Harrison Buys Gold Coast Recycling

Jim, Ralph and Myron Harrison, co-owners of the county’s largest trash-hauling company, are buying Gold Coast Recycling, Jim Harrison said Monday.

The Harrison brothers, who with their mother, Myra, own E.J. Harrison, already own one-third of Gold Coast. They would not disclose how much they paid for the recycling firm.

The buyout makes sense, according to Nan Drake, a spokeswoman for both companies.

“Gold Coast can handle 440 tons of recyclables a day and 95% of that is from E.J. Harrison,” Drake said. “They’re not just a major partner, they’re a major user of Gold Coast.”

Drake said Gold Coast’s other partners wanted to sell out so they could pursue other projects, such as recycling tires into new products and making bricks out of trash.

Officials for the city of Ventura, which has a contract with Gold Coast, said they were satisfied with the sale.

“If we didn’t have total confidence in them, we wouldn’t have a seven-year, $10-million contract with them to haul the city’s trash,” said Ventura City Councilman Gregory Carson.

But one concern to Ventura officials is whether the Harrisons will continue with Gold Coast’s plans to build a $100-million recycling plant and adjoining environmental business park on a parcel of land just south of the Ventura Freeway and east of Victoria Avenue.

“Whenever you change owners on a project like this, there is always a concern,” Ventura City Councilman Jack Tingstrom said. “The environmental park would be state of the art and keep the city as an environmental leader and make jobs.”

Jim Harrison said he and his brothers hope to renew the lease on the property near Victoria Avenue but wouldn’t commit to whether the new plant would be built.