Council OKs Pilot Plan for Recycling

The Glendale City Council this week approved the first city-sponsored, curb-side recycling program, which is aimed at reducing the amount of trash being dumped into the city’s Scholl Canyon Landfill, thus prolonging the life of the dump.

Residents in a 24-block neighborhood bordering Burbank will be asked to participate in the pilot program, which may be expanded citywide in a year, officials said.

The pilot program will serve 1,040 households beginning Oct. 24 in an area bounded by Alameda and Sonora avenues, Glenwood Road and Bel Aire Drive, said George Miller, public works director.

Cans, Glass Recycled

Participants are being asked to separate recyclable metal cans, glass containers and newspapers from the rest of their trash. Recyclable materials will be picked up on Fridays and hauled in trucks owned by the City of Burbank to the privately operated Burbank Recycling Center, where it will be sold for reuse.

City officials estimate 200 tons of trash will be recovered in the first year of the program. Miller said he hopes at least 25% of households participate in the voluntary program.

The city is distributing two five-gallon plastic containers to every household in the project for separating cans and glass. Newspapers are to be bundled. Flyers asking residents to participate also have been distributed throughout the neighborhood.

Area Borders Burbank

The project area was selected because it borders Burbank, which has sponsored a similar program serving all of that city’s 18,500 households since 1982. Glendale will pay Burbank $114.80 a month for use of two trucks to be used for the project. Plastic magnetic signs with Glendale’s recycling logo will cover Burbank’s logos when the trucks are in Glendale, Miller said.

The trucks will be operated by crews from Garden State Paper Co., a San Gabriel Valley firm that operates Burbank’s program. Glendale will pay $90 an hour for manpower. City officials estimate the pilot project will cost about $20,000 the first year.