Ventura, CA – The County of Ventura’s Sustainability Division is asking employees to stop plastic waste in July. This month, the County is participating in Plastic Free July by asking it employees, more than 10,000 of them, to participate in a campaign that recognizes plastic pollution as a problem affecting communities across the globe.
The County’s Sustainability Officer, Alejandra Tellez, noted that “With more than 10,000 employees and as the second largest employer in Ventura County, empowering our employees to make informed and sustainable choices in the workplace can have a big local impact. This July, we are asking our County employees to help reduce our plastic footprint.”
What is Plastic Free July?
Plastic Free July is an annual event that began in Western Australia in 2011 and has spread across the globe. It aims to raise awareness of the amount of plastic in our lives by encouraging people to reduce their reliance on single-use plastic disposables, reduce plastic pollution, and push for lasting solutions to the plastic pollution crisis- during July and beyond.
The County and the campaign encourage people to take action, learn about ways to reduce their plastic waste, and connect with others who are concerned about plastic pollution and waste. In support of Plastic Free July, County employees are challenged with making a pledge to reduce their plastic waste as much as possible in July and provided with a resources where they can learn or do more.
With 28 agencies and more than 10,000 employees, the County’s workforce has the ability to make a big impact with it comes to waste through actions in the workplace.
How can you participate in Plastic Free July in Ventura County?
A few local options and resources below that are working to reduce plastic waste:
- Learn more about waste and recycling from the County of Ventura at org/environment/waste-and-recycling/ including their Waste Prevention Guide for Business.
- County employees can find ways to recycle they need to use plastic at work with the General Service Agency’s Employee Recycling Guide.
- Learn about Ventura Surfrider’s “Plastic Free Ventura County” campaign, surfrider.org/programs-and-campaigns/plastic-free-ventura-county, which launched in response to the amount of single-use plastic litter that volunteers are collecting at local beach cleanups.
- Find information about reducing waste in a local school or restaurant from Plastic Free Restaurants, plasticfreerestaurants.org, which works to eliminate petroleum-based, single-use plastic from restaurants and schools.
- Volunteer with local organizations to clean up trash – including plastic pollution – from local beaches and waterways such as Surfrider Foundation, Ventura Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, and other organizations.
- Learn more about plastic waste from CalRecycle at ca.gov/plastics.
