Plastic bags are again being collected at certain stores for recycling, Heal the Ocean (HTO) reports. Additional locations where plastic bags can be recycled include:
Vons grocery store, 1040 Coast Village Road, Montecito (bag bin located outside the store)
Ralphs grocery store, 5170 Hollister Ave., Goleta (bag bin outside the store)
Albertsons grocery store, 5801 Calle Real, Goleta (bag bin outside the store)
Updates on other bag recycling sites are as follows:
» Ablitt’s Fine Cleaners, 14 W. Gutierrez St., Santa Barbara, has updated its film plastic recycling program during COVID-19. E-mail Ablitt’s at sales@ablitts.com to be put on the Recycling Invitation List and you will be contacted for a time to come in with recyclables. You also can visit Ablitt’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Ablitts/, then email sales@ablitt.com to reserve a spot.
Ablitt’s takes film plastics, bubble wrap, deflated air pillows, clean bread and product wrappers, and other items. However, due to COVID, the items must be properly sorted, which means supervision at the recycling site. Park across the street on Gutierrez and walk to the recycling area behind the cleaning establishment.
» Both the Community Environmental Council (CEC) and Santa Barbara Channelkeeper are accepting film plastics by appointment at their respective offices. They, too, require an appointment, to ensure the film plastic is clean and non-contaminated. E-mail or call to schedule an appointment in advance:
Community Environmental Council — Call Kathi King, 805-689-2075 or email kking@cecmail.org to schedule a drop-off.
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper — Email Penny@sbck.org to schedule a drop-off.
With regards to Styrofoam recycling, due to COVID, MarBorg Industries had to temporarily closed off the recycling of Styrofoam, too. On Aug. 3, both MarBorg facilities — Nopalitos (in the lower Milpas Street area) and David Love Place in Goleta — will be accepting Styrofoam for recycling.
At both locations, workers will help in the collecting. MarBorg wants to ensure that what is going into their bins is clean and recyclable and that other items, like garbage, are not mixed in to spoil the batch.
In other news, the next oil well-capping in Summerland has been postponed until September. Here is why: The previously approved wells to be capped were all on the beach and had gone through the required California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process. The State Lands Commission (SLC) had yet to go through the CEQA process to include Treadwell #10.
Heal the Ocean believes it was because of HTO’s strong advocacy for Treadwell to be included in the capping plans that SLC accomplished the required CEQA documentation. HTO thanks Advisory Board member Harry Rabin of On the Wave Productions for pushing this through.
Lastly, after a round of trash collecting at Santa Claus Lane beach in Carpinteria on July 26, Advisory Board member Maire Radis reports her weekly pickup yielded less rubbish than in the past, but “a lot of trash” on the road and the beach.
“It’s nothing we can’t handle,” Radis said, but HTO reminds community members to respect your earth, your neighbors, your environment and yourself, and please don’t litter.