Program Turns Companies’ Trash Into Treasures

Ed Evans almost gave up hope that he’d be able to unload the 30, 1-ton concrete floats he had stored near a quay at Channel Islands Harbor.

With their size and condition, Evans thought he’d have to spend several thousand dollars to dispose of them at the landfill near Simi Valley.

However, a business-specific recycling program run by the county called VC Max helped Evans, director of harbor maintenance, locate someone who wanted the heavy dock supports and save money the harbor could put to better use.

“I didn’t think anyone would want them, but by Friday they’re going to all be gone,” Evans said. “Saved us a lot of money and saved me a lot of trouble, because I’d have to get a crane and truck in here just to get them out to the dump.”

For the past five years, VC Max--short for the Ventura County Materials Exchange--has been working to build bridges among businesses, schools and nonprofit organizations to recycle still-useful items that might otherwise wind up in the landfill.

Through the Internet and a quarterly listing of classified ads, VC Max advertises everything from office furniture and equipment to blasting residue to paint and horse manure that area businesses want to get rid of.

“The main objective is to keep valuable and useful things from ending up at the landfill,” said Lorraine Timmons, recycling manager for the county’s solid waste management department. “We’ve only got a limited amount of space there, and we can’t go on building new ones, which has made programs like these so important. . . . They’re really our last hope.”

Modeled after the state’s CalMax program, VC Max began in 1994 as a way to increase recycling among businesses where it had previously been aimed solely at residents.

The program is funded regionally through fees collected from landfills throughout Southern California.

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The program has no full-time staff, and according to Timmons, takes very little to maintain.

However, getting businesses to participate took some coaxing that, not surprisingly, came down to waving dollar signs in front of them.

“No matter how nice a business wants to be, it always comes down to money,” Timmons said. “They want to know if this is going to cost them something and whether they gain anything from it. And I think we’ve got that with this program.”

For participants, the program has provided a solid financial incentive.

Not only does it allow them to forego the $34-a-ton fee for dumping at the Simi Valley Landfill and transportation costs, but it can also be used as a tax write-off if the materials go to a nonprofit organization or school.

For G.I. Rubbish, that has translated into substantial reduction in overhead costs.

“Our business is the landfill, and if we can keep from paying to dump there we will,” said the company’s recycling manager, Tony Alessi. “Over the past few years we’ve made a real effort to look at what we’re dumping to see if there’s anything we can put into the program, and if there is, we do.”

For others like the Gull Wing Children’s Museum in Oxnard, it’s a way to save precious pennies.

In the past, the museum has picked up materials such as neoprene, PVC pipe, foam, ceramic tiles and magnets to use in its art programs.

“Funding is always a problem, so we’ve had to be creative,” said Leana Bowman, museum director. “And with [VC Max] we’ve been able to get materials that we wouldn’t have been able to afford before, which helps us help the children.”

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Program managers said they hope to increase participation in VC Max and are confident that once a business learns about the service and the money it could save, it will jump aboard.

“It doesn’t cost them anything other than maybe keeping something a little longer than they would have otherwise,” Timmons said. “But it helps the environment, it helps other businesses, and it can save them money. . . . I think those are some good reasons.”

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