S.J. pollution fighters earn plaudits

By Bruce Spence

Record Staff Writer

Plus, discarded tires, fallen trees and litter of all nastiness and description clogging the 2¹/_²-mile central Stockton waterway called Smith Canal. In the past two years, about 80 residents who live near the canal have pulled more than 160 shopping carts and a whole mess of trash out of the waterway, which runs from Louis Park—at the San Joaquin River—due east to American Legion Park east of Pershing Avenue. It's an ongoing effort, thus the creation of Friends of Smith Canal, complete with regular meetings and updated newsletters. "Many of the people do live on the canal, and they're very concerned," group Chairwoman Peg Keranen said. "They see it every day, so it's doing something in their own back yard."

And doing something to help clean up the county as a whole, according to TOPPS—Targeted Opportunities to Prevent Pollution in San Joaquin County. Friends of Smith Canal is among nine organizations and businesses honored by TOPPS for environmental good works.

The eighth annual Mayoral Awards for Environmental Excellence entailed an awards dinner as well as recognition by the county Board of Supervisors. TOPPS is a public/private partnership of business, government, agriculture and community organizations. The group, which promotes pollution prevention as both cost-effective and beneficial to the county's quality of life, issued top-honors awards in eight categories concerning land, air and water quality. The San Joaquin Regional Transit District also got an honorable mention in the air-quality category.

Here's a look at those honored:

• Water/nonprofit: Friends of Smith Canal
The group held three canal cleanups to remove debris in the water and on the levee and also removed dilapidated docks at the request of property owners. Steering-committee members were instrumental in the city of Stockton installation of no-dumping signs along Shimizu Drive and in the new Safeway store's use of shopping carts that lock up if moved off the premises.

• Wastewater: Vernon Transportation Co. and Stockton Sanitary Wash Rack
The Navy Drive company hauls food-grade sugar and uses hot water to sanitize the tankers used to haul the sweetener. Each week, the cleanup used to produce about 27,000 gallons of sugar-water effluent, sent to a wastewater-treatment facility. Nowadays the effluent is hauled away to be used as an animal-feed additive and for agricultural irrigation.

• Stormwater/small business: Acme Lift Trucks Inc.
The company at 1049 S. Wilson Way rebuilds and sells forklifts, other material-handling equipment and parts. The company graded the area, blacktopped and installed stormwater catch basins. It also built a concrete dike to prevent stormwater from running into storm drains before going through the catch basins and filtering system. Acme also installed a 20,000-gallon collection tank to filter water released into storm drains.

• Stormwater/medium-sized business: Universal Service Recycling Inc.
The company at 3200 S. El Dorado St. recycles metal scrap, including steel, aluminum, copper, brass and batteries. The metals are processed and shipped via rail cars to mills, where the metal is melted to provide material for new products, instead of being sent off to landfills.

• Land/small business: Ulmer Photo
The small business at 219 E. Weber Ave. is a two-employee operation running a one-hour photo lab and retail camera-and-photographic supply store and has come up with some creative recycling ideas. One is taking used film cassettes and putting them in a window display. Store owner Tim Ulmer estimates it will take three years to fill the window. He makes key chains from the cassettes for promotional giveaways. Also, paper cores are given to preschool and kindergarten classes for crafts, and single-use cameras get shipped to a facility for reloading and reuse.

• Land/large business: Corn Products International
The food processor at 1021 Industrial Drive follows a waste-reduction plan and has implemented a number of changes at the company, which mills corn for fructose, sweeteners, starch, gluten meal, germ and animal feedstuffs. The plant makes bulk buys of enzyme materials that minimize waste volume, and the liquid enzymes are now purchased in recyclable totes rather than cardboard/fiber drums, which weren't recyclable. Plus, old steel drums were compacted and recycled as scrap metal.

• Land/nonprofit sector: University of the Pacific student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers
The group adopted the stretch of the Calaveras River that runs westerly through the campus between Pacific and Pershing avenues. About 120 students organized two cleanups during spring and fall of last year. They netted trash, discarded tires, shopping carts and debris from the levees, banks and riverbed.

• Air: Commute Connection, San Joaquin Council of Governments
The Commute Connection is a free commuter ride-matching service and information program serving San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties. It provides drive-alone commuters with alternative ways to get to work through carpooling, public transit, telecommuting, biking and walking. Last year, Commute Connection provided services to 4,200 commuters, encouraged more than 1,300 people to adopt new ways to get to and from work and started 34 vanpools.

• Air/honorable mention: San Joaquin Regional Transit District
The transit district, otherwise known as SMART, provides bus service for Stockton and some unincorporated areas of the county. In March 2000, the district bought two zero-emission electric/battery-powered support vans and is pursuing the purchase of hybrid/electric buses. The district also is seeking funds to retrofit its fleet with kits that will reduce air pollutants.

* To reach reporter Bruce Spence, phone 943-8581 or e-mail bspence@recordnet.com