"Here She Comes, Miss...Yard Waste?!"

Living in California, we get used to all sorts of things. But it was still kind of fun during Wednesday's parade to see floats with Miss Huntington Beach, Miss Garden Grove Strawberry festival - and then the trio of "Miss Trash", "Miss Recyclables" and "Miss Yard Waste". I can just imagine the pageant itself, with Oscar the Grouch serving as emcee...

I applaud Rainbow Disposal for getting the message out there. We seldom think about where our garbage goes, but as yesterday's post on water quality indicated, some of it winds up quite close to home. In fact, when people pour things into our storm drain system, our harbor water becomes a big cesspool.

It never hurts to think again about the impact of throwing hazardous waste in our Seabridge drains and dumpsters. I suspect that the readers of this blog don't engage in the practice, but we've all seen it. Perhaps better education, awareness and community cooperation can help us in keeping waste where it belongs.

As to what we can do at Seabridge, I suggest the following as a start:

• If you see someone throwing something hazardous in the dumpsters or down the storm drains, tell them. Sometimes, a little awareness goes a long ways.

• Often the culprit is not homeowners, but their contractors. If you are doing remodeling, make sure your contractors get a rent-a-bin and dispose of all waste properly.

• It is really not hard at all to drive your hazardous waste items over to Rainbow's facility at Warner and Nichols to dispose of them in the proper manner. They make it a piece of cake - you don't even get out of the car. Did I mention that it's FREE? I'll try to post a message here if I'm planning a trip, and I encourage others to do the same.

• Huntington Beach has a great freecycling program if you're looking to give something a new lease on life. It's almost as easy as walking over to the dumpster, but a lot easier on our landfills.

• And with fall just a few short months away, perhaps it's time to start thinking about another garage sale?

If you have suggestions for other things we can do to help keep Seabridge clean, I welcome your comments.