Environmental Services

The City of Ventura Environmental Services Office is committed to the preservation of Ventura's environment through innovative waste reduction and pollution prevention programs, including effective public education and outreach for residents and businesses.

Diverting Ventura's waste to useful purposes through recycling is one example of conserving our resources and enhancing our environment. The Environmental Services Office oversees an array of projects and community-based programs including Stormwater Pollution Prevention, Household Hazardous Waste Collections, Electronic Waste Recycling, Used Motor Oil and Paint Recycling, Reuse and Source Reduction, Commercial Recycling and Composting. We are also responsible for administering the City's agreements with E.J. Harrison and Gold Coast Recycling and Transfer Agreements.

To read more about city-wide programs click here

Awareness

In 1989, when the State of California passed a law (Assembly Bill 939)
requiring all cities to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill disposal by 50% by the year 2000, Ventura was only diverting 10% from the landfill. Through public education, outreach, recycling and source reduction, Ventura has increased the amount of waste the City diverted from the landfill by a dramatic 63%, making Ventura’s waste reduction and recycling program one of the most successful and comprehensive in California.

Visualizing the resource savings and pollution reduction benefits from recycling can be difficult. Thus, we have drawn these comparisons with the hopes that these statistics continue to be a motivating factor for everyone. The materials recycled in the City of Ventura each year:

• save enough energy to provide the energy needs of 5,300 households
• reduce greenhouse gas emission by 37,000 tons…the equivalent of removing 7,400 cars from the road
• reduce the amount of pollution emitted into the air by 899 tons
• reduce the amount of pollution emitted into the water by 147 tons
• save over 324,000 trees by recycling paper

With many diverse and fragile ecosystems off Ventura’s coastline, pollution prevention is a high priority for our oceanside community. The combined effort on the part of the City, businesses and residents will continue to be the driving force behind a safe and healthy environment for our community. The Environmental Services Office welcomes your questions, comments or concerns, and requests for information about Ventura’s environment.

If we can assist you, please phone us at 652-4525.