Cynthia Ruiz, president of the city of Los Angeles Board of Public Works, has announced the start of the city’s new Multi-Family Residential Recycling Program, which she says will provide recycling services to more than 540,000 multi-family residences.
The Department of Public Works Bureau of Sanitation provides weekly curbside pickup of recyclables, green waste and refuse from more than 645,000 single-family homes in the city. The new program provides free pickup, blue bins and educational materials to residents of multi-family units.
"By taking advantage of innovative programs that offer additional recycling opportunities, like this, residents can help us achieve the mayor’s goal of diverting 70 percent of the city’s refuse away from landfills by 2015," Ruiz says. She adds that the city currently has a 62 percent diversion rate.
The city has launched www.larecycles.org to offer residents information about the multi-family recycling program, including answers to frequently asked questions about recycling and enrollment guidelines for the program.
Illinois Announces Recycling Grant Recipients
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has announced more than $143,000 in funding from the Illinois Recycling Grant Program to three programs in the state, which is expected to boost recycling opportunities in southeast Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, which is part of Blagojevich’s Opportunity Returns program that is designed to boost growth in the state, administers the grants.
The recipients are the Clay County Rehabilitation Center in Flora, Ill., the Lincoln Heritage Resource Conservation and Developmental Council in Tuscola, Ill., and Sutter Sanitation Services Inc. in Shumway, Ill.
The Clay County Rehabilitation Center was awarded a $60,000 grant to expand its existing commercial recycling collection efforts to area businesses. The expansion is expected to increase the volume of recyclable commodities the center collects and processes from 760 tons to more than 1,000 tons. The center is a nonprofit corporation providing vocational rehabilitation and day training for disabled residents of Clay, Wayne and Richland counties.
The Lincoln Heritage Resource Conservation and Developmental Council, a nonprofit organization, has been awarded a $27,500 electronics recycling grant to establish and operate a permanent electronics collection site at the Coles County fairgrounds. Grant funds will be used to purchase a forklift, pallet scale, hand truck, camera system, gaylord boxes and shrink wrap machine as well as to fund project-related promotion and education efforts.
Sutter Sanitation Services Inc. has been awarded a $56,000 recycling grant for the implementation of an expanded drop-off service for residents of Effingham County as well as those of neighboring Cumberland, Shelby, Fayette and Marion counties. Sutter Sanitation Service operates a full-time recycling drop-off and processing facility, which provides commercial businesses with hook-lift containers and a limited number of local recycling days. The expansion of community recycling efforts has been hampered in the past because of a lack of equipment. The addition of new containers at new sites will facilitate the proposed expansion and generate additional volumes of recyclable commodities in a rural setting.
The goal of the grant program is to divert recyclable commodities from Illinois landfills and to expand and enhance the recycling collection and processing infrastructure in Illinois. Funded projects also can demonstrate public economic benefits, which includes job creation and retention and assistance to economically distressed areas.
Wayne Opportunity Center Takes Over County’s RecyclingThe Wayne Opportunity Center, Goldsboro, N.C., will take over recycling services for North Carolina’s Wayne County, according to a report in the News-Argus (Goldsboro, N.C.).
The center is affiliated with United Way of Wayne County and has been running a recycling program for 20 years.
Currently, Wayne Opportunity recycles nearly 200 tons of cardboard and mixed paper per month, mostly from local schools and businesses.
With the county’s added material, that total is expected to increase to 400 tons per month, along with additional tons of No. 1 and No. 2 plastic, aluminum and tin cans, according to the report.
County drivers will bring material to the center, and residents can also drop recyclables off.
More information is available at www.unitedwaywaynecounty.org.
Carolinas Group Targets Rural Recycling
The Carolina Recycling University (CRU) program of the Carolina Recycling Association (CRA) is hosting four seminars in North and South Carolina with a focus on rural recycling programs.
The three-day seminars, for which participants can gain continuing education units, began in August, meeting at the Comfort Suites, Salisbury, N.C., Aug. 20-22 and at the Planning Department Building, Jacksonville, N.C., Aug. 27-19. The seminars are at Mars Hill College, Mars Hill, N.C., Sept. 12-14, and at Radisson Hotel, Columbia, S.C., Sept. 27-29.
Attendees receive a copy of the 2007 "Rural Recycling Training Manual" and sit in on classes covering a variety of topics "directly related to all aspects of rural recycling," according to CRU.Those completing the course will earn the title of "Qualified Recycling Professional" and receive a Certificate of Completion. Non-members will also receive a complimentary one-year membership to upon registering.
More information is available by calling (919) 545-9050 or e-mailing cra@cra-recycle.org.
Allied Waste Adds New Technology to MRFAllied Waste has added new technology, including optical sorting equipment, to its redesigned material recovery facility (MRF) in Plano, Texas.
Allied Waste opened its Plano recycling center more than a decade ago, using what was at the time leading technology.
"Allied Waste has been a great partner with the city of Plano for over 20 years now," Plano Mayor Pat Evans says. "The company’s state-of-the-art recycling facility makes it easy for residents and our commercial businesses to recycle without sorting."
James P. Lattimore, Allied Waste district manager, says, "Four different manufacturers contributed to the overall synchronized system of conveyor belts, a drum feeder, various sized separation screens, variable speed motors, overhead cross-belt magnets and an Eddy current separator, a device that uses reverse polarity to separate aluminum from the waste stream."
Philly Promotes RecyclingThe city of Philadelphia’s Streets Department has unveiled three recycling trucks that prominently display "The Future of Recycling."
The campaign is designed to raise awareness of the city’s single-stream recycling program.
The Philadelphia Streets Department’s Recycling Office launched "The Future of Recycling" campaign in March to encourage increased participation in its residential curbside recycling program. The city expanded its single-stream program at the time, adding approximately 93,000 households to the 123,000 households that already took part in the city’s recycling program.
Inspired by the real comments of Philadelphia’s teenagers, the public service campaign features three area teens stepping up to take responsibility for their own recycling habits.
LinkUp Alters StructureWashington State’s King County LinkUp program has chosen asphalt shingles, glass bottles, gypsum wallboard and urban wood as priority materials for 2007.
These materials were chosen based on the potential for increased recycling in King County. Approximately 40,000 tons of glass bottles are generated in King County, and only slightly more than half is recycled. Construction and demolition activities in the county each year generate an estimated 17,000 tons of asphalt shingle scrap, and less than 1,000 tons are recycled. King County generated an estimated 31,000 tons of gypsum wallboard scrap in 2005, recycling only 6,000 tons. County businesses disposed of 94,000 tons of recyclable urban wood each year.
Explore the September 2007 Issue
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