Jul 17 - Garbage Woes for Eureka
The Californias Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 requires cities and counties to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills by 50% by the year 2000. Although many areas have reached or exceeded this goal, there still exists many cities that have not reached this goal, even six years later. Kimberly Wear of The Times-Standard reports that the City of Eureka plans to hold public workshops on making recycling pickup mandatory or having the city face excessive fines.
EUREKA -- There's a saying in the garbage industry: “Trash is job security. You never run out of it.”That adage may be proving a little too true in Eureka, where many items that could be recycled are making their way into local trash cans. That's leaving the city facing a worst-case scenario of fines as high as $10,000 per day for not meeting a state mandate to divert 50 percent of trash away from landfills -- a goal that was supposed to be met by 2000.
”The state is looking for us to make some progress on mandatory recycling,” said special projects manager Gary Bird.
Making recycling available to everyone is important if we want to help reduce the waste we send to landfills. Whether it be curbside, shelf haul or multi-family recycling, Californians should be able to have easy access to recycling at home or at work.
CAW currently supports AB 2206 (Montañez), requiring owners and managers of multi-family dwellings to provide information and assistance to residents about recycling to achieve higher recycling levels in multi-family dwellings.
What You Can Do:
- Send an email to your legislator to ask for their support on the measure.
- Support AB 2206 by writing a support letter on behalf of your organization.
- LOCATE recycling areas near you so you know where to recycle unwanted items.