Cleanup Week and Hazardous Waste Drop-Off Hazardous Waste Drop Off Sept. 26
T
he San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA) invites folks to safely dispose of their household hazardous waste (HHW) at an upcoming temporary collection event held at Cuesta College on Saturday, September 26, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Cuesta College – SLO Campus Parking Lot 3 off of HWY 1. Residents may bring up to 15 gallons or 125 pounds of accepted household hazardous waste for safe, free disposal. Check out the list of Items accepted include old paint and stains, household cleaning products, motor oil and automotive fluids, batteries and electronics (E-waste) and more. See the list at iwma.com/hazardous-waste.
Fall Cleanup Week is slated for Sept. 28-Oct. 2 and the garbage company is reminding everyone of what they need to do to take advantage of the free service.
• Single-family residents can place up to six additional 32-gallon size bags of trash out at the curb for free on the morning of your normal pick up day.
• All additional bags will go directly to the landfill and are not reviewed for recyclables or organic materials. Make sure organic and recycle materials are sorted property. Extra organic and recycling pickups are available, call the Garbage Company for details.
• Bulky items must be neatly bundled or bagged.
• No hazardous materials, or concrete in trash bags, nor items longer than 4-feet (i.e. rugs, tables, pipes, lumber, etc.)
• All bulky item pickups during Clean Up Week must be called in or scheduled online at least 3-days prior to your regular pickup day by the service account holder.
Call the Garbage Company for more information or to schedule a bulky item pickup at: 805-543-0875.
To keep things out of the landfill, garbage companies suggest using local resources for reducing and reusing the items.
• Have larger items that are still in decent shape? Try Habitat for Humanity, they might even pick up certain things.
• How about e-waste? Perhaps iFixit can get you the hard-to-find parts, and share the know-how, to get it done.
• Or, try a repair cafe! 5 Cities Repair Cafe hosts events throughout the County, see their website for details.
• Otherwise, most e-waste is accepted free of charge at our Cold Canyon Landfill, and some local retailers.
•New this year: Try “Trash to Treasure”, where you can give away your used, but still working, items, for free to another community member. Visit iwma.com/trash-to-treasure for more information.
Project RattleCam Reveals Baby Snakes
It’s the season for babies in the snake world and Project RattleCam is capturing magical moments.
The livestream camera feed has revealed footage of a live birth, dozens of newborns and even observed the cycle of life as a five-year-old snake, Iris, first seen in 2021 as a baby in California recently gave birth to her own offspring.
And for the first time, the project captured the activities of baby Timber rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania, after that latest camera went live in May.
“After witnessing the first days of life of two other rattlesnake species on our cams, I can say that seeing brand new Timber Rattlesnake babies basking in the sun and exploring their new world is a huge privilege and endlessly fascinating,” said Emily Taylor, a Cal Poly biological sciences professor and co-director of Project RattleCam, in a news release.
The initial observations of newborns took place July 30 in California, Aug. 11 in Colorado and Sept. 8 in Pennsylvania. More than 60 newborn rattlesnakes have been observed in Colorado.
Project RattleCam allows the public access to observe snake activities and researchers to monitor the behaviors of the animals in their natural habitats without human disturbance.
On both the California and Colorado cameras, viewers have seen females deliver their pups live via the livestream, trailed by the arrival of the Pennsylvania neonates.
“There is literally a handful of people in the world that have seen rattlesnake pups being born from their mother,” said Scott Boback, a Dickinson biology professor and co-director of Project RattleCam. “After spending the whole summer getting to know the individual snakes, viewers, including me, were overwhelmed with joy to be able to see the delivery. It’s a tremendous gift to be able to watch timber rattlesnake pups during their first few days of life.”
In past research conducted by Taylor and students gauging people’s feelings towards rattlesnakes, when people observe mother-pup interactions it often changes perspectives of animosity and fear to feelings of respect for the animals. Taylor has led public campaigns to reduce harm and the killing of snakes due to people’s false perceptions around aggressive rattlesnake behaviors. In fact, rattlesnakes generally strike as a defense mechanism and seek to avoid human encounters unless threatened.
Voting By Mail in SLO County
Mid-term elections are right around the corner, and the voting process has been in debate. Despite attempts by President Donald Trump and his Administration, mail-in ballots are still a go. The Supreme Court earlier this month declined to allow the U.S. Postal Service to carry out restrictions on mail-in voting for the mid-term elections. Any registered voter may vote using a vote-by-mail ballot instead of going to the polls on Election Day.
The San Luis Obispo County Elections Office says ballots are on track to be sent to all registered voters no later than Oct. 5. After you have voted, insert your ballot in the envelope provided, making sure you complete all required information on the envelope.
You may return your voted ballot by
• By drop box
Drop off your completed ballot in the return envelope at a secure official drop box in your county at any time between October 6 through the close of polls on November 3.
• In person
Drop your completed ballot in the return envelope off at a secure drop box, polling place, vote center, or county elections office by 8:00 p.m. on November 3. Voting locations will be available in all counties before Election Day. Voting locations offer voter registration, replacement ballots, accessible voting machines, and language assistance.
• By mail
Return your ballot by mail as soon as you receive it. Mailed ballots must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received not later than 7 days after Election Day. To ensure your ballot is postmarked by Election Day make sure to mail it at least five days before Election Day, November 3. If mailing on Election Day, get a hand-stamped postmark from a postal employee inside a United States Post Office.
• Authorizing someone to return the ballot on your behalf.
Anyone may return your ballot for you, as long as they do not get paid on a per ballot basis.
When your vote-by-mail ballot is received by your county elections official, your signature on the return envelope will be compared to the signature(s) in your voter registration record. To preserve the secrecy of your ballot, the ballot will then be separated from the return envelope, and then it will be tallied.
All valid vote-by-mail ballots are counted in every election in California, regardless of the outcome or closeness of any race.
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