As crop protection efforts ramp up, we would like to offer a few reminders to help protect your employees and stay in compliance with regulations.  Following are a few reminders:

• Employees and field workers who handle pesticides must be trained annually and must be trained on all specific pesticides they will be handling. All trainings must be documented.
• As you begin your spray programs for the new season, please remember to adjust your application equipment to match the current conditions in your vineyards and orchards.
• If an employee is handling pesticides and the label requires protective eyewear, there must be one pint of emergency eyewash immediately available. Meaning the water must be on the tractor, or on the applicator if using a backpack sprayer.

This is also the time of year that the Department ramps up our pest detection and trapping programs.  Beginning in March, we will once again deploy detection traps for European Grapevine Moth (EGVM).  Trap counts and trapping densities have been reduced, but commercial vineyards will continue to be monitored.  Also beginning in March, our local nurseries and landscaper holding yards will be trapped for Glassy-Winged Sharpshooter (GWSS).  In April, our general pest detection traps will be deployed in urban areas, followed up by GWSS urban traps deployed at the beginning of May.  As is the case with all of our insect detection programs, early detection of pests is critical for subsequent management and eradication efforts.

California Refund Value (CRV)

If you purchase beverages, including soft drinks, flavored drinks, or water, you likely noticed a fee charged called the California Refund Value (CRV) for each individual container.  Consumers are charged a 5₵ CRV fee for most glass bottles, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans that hold less than 24 ounces.  A 10₵ CRV fee is charged for containers holding more than 24 ounces.  The CRV fee was intended to encourage consumers to return their recyclable material back to recycling centers to collect the redemption fee, thus having fewer recyclable materials ending up in landfills.

Unfortunately, in 2016, California’s largest operator of recycling redemption centers, rePlanet, shut down all its operations in the state, creating a huge shortage of available recycling centers.  Today, Sonoma County has only four locations that purchase CRV material from the public:

• Global Materials Recovery Services, 3899 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa
• Brambila Recycling, 370 Sebastopol Road, Santa Rosa
• West Coast Metals, 470 Caletti Avenue, Windsor
• Petaluma Recycling Center, 315 2^nd Street, Petaluma

Here are a few tips when redeeming your CRV materials at any of these locations:

• Have a general idea of the weight value of the materials you are selling. Make sure the weighing process, especially the scale readout, is visible so you can verify the total weight value.  If the scale is not visible, insist that the scale be moved to a position where you can easily view the process to confirm the readings.
• Ask for a receipt of the transaction that shows the weight of the materials sold to the recycler.
• Ask the attendant any reasonable questions you may have about the process.

The weighing process should be transparent.  If you feel that the process was not transparent or that you were paid less than the correct amount for your CRV materials, please call the Department at (707) 565-2371 and ask to speak with a Weights & Measures Inspector.  Our Inspectors will conduct undercover test purchases to confirm that the business is compliant with all applicable state and county requirements.