GONZALES — Residents of Gonzales participated in the Fall REuse, REcycle and Cleanup Day event on Oct. 17 at the Fairview Middle School outdoor basketball courts, where 140 vehicle loads were served.
The week before, 62 registered households held community-wide yard sales, and participants were asked to bring items that were not sold to the cleanup for recycling or disposal.
At last Saturday’s event, Gonzales residents were provided free disposal of ABOP (Antifreeze, Batteries, Oil and Paint) materials. Monterey County Environmental Health offered a CalRecycle grant-funded oil filter exchange and residents received up to two vouchers for free oil filters.
The Save the Whales organization conducted stormwater surveys to support the City of Gonzales stormwater management plan. Residents were also provided with 10 cubic yards of free compost from the City of Gonzales.
The Gonzales High School cross country team provided 50 hours of community service by helping residents unload their vehicles and will receive a donation from Tri-Cities and Recycling.
“The event achieved a 69% diversion rate,” said Special Projects Consultant of Tri-Cities Disposal and Recycling Maury Treleven. “The challenge of the day was the high temperatures at the end of the event. Thank-you to the volunteers for their hard work under these conditions.”
The cleanup focuses on preventing illegal dumping and promoting reuse and donation and facilitates source separation, recycling and proper disposal of hazardous waste, trash, scrap metal, rigid plastics and electronic waste. Landfill disposal vouchers for refrigerators and freezers at the Johnson Canyon Landfill were provided.
