RECYCLING: Salvaging a Solution? : Emerging Efforts Show That It Can Work

What really rankled Dennis Brown was seeing people throw away perfectly good stuff.

Each Wednesday, trash day on his street in El Cajon, Brown would watch in horror as neighbors dumped cans, bottles and newspapers--along with clothing, furniture, artwork, even appliances--out on the curb for the garbage collector.

“I couldn’t stand to see such waste,” Brown, 31, recalled. “I couldn’t figure out why somebody wasn’t doing something to rescue all those valuable goods.”

One day in 1986, Brown decided that he was somebody and he was going to tackle the problem. An avid bicyclist, Brown rigged a homemade aluminum trailer to the back of his sturdy “stump jumper” mountain bike and, after delivering a door-to-door pitch to residents, launched a curbside recycling program for 78 homes on Naranca Avenue.

Today, 14 months later, the San Diego State University biology student serves 300 homes. Each Wednesday at 6 a.m. he sets out, swooping down on one trash can after another to pluck out just about anything that’s recyclable or reusable before the garbage truck comes to haul it away.

‘Not Much But Something’

“I take all the normal stuff--cans, bottles, newspapers, cardboard--plus things like scrap metal, used motor oil, household items, clothes, even old car batteries,” said Brown, who manages to sell enough of the materials to pay himself $4.50 an hour. “About 18% of the homes are participating now. It’s not much, but it’s something.”

A few years back, civic leaders throughout San Diego County probably would have dismissed Dennis Brown as a well-intentioned fellow whose ideas simply weren’t applicable on a grand scale. But now they figure recycling buffs like Brown may be onto something.

With local landfills brimming with trash and opposition to incineration plants growing fiercer, public officials now believe widespread recycling is one weapon critical to helping them fend off a looming garbage crisis.

In the last few months, both the City and County of San Diego have unveiled ambitious recycling programs, pronouncing with fanfare that they aim to reclaim, within five years, as much as 30% of the 4 million tons of trash buried annually at the region’s landfills.

Outlying communities are catching the fever as well, and the San Diego Assn. of Governments has established a task force to coordinate a regional recycling campaign. Meanwhile, under a new state law, buy-back centers are sprouting at supermarkets everywhere, paying a penny for each can, bottle and plastic container returned.

Environmentalists say such developments are long overdue. While some communities nationwide have been practicing recycling with vigor for years, local progress has been minimal--confined to private industry, volunteer efforts and a smattering of small programs in North County.

Although its backers admit that recycling is not a panacea--realistically, it could cut trash volume by about half at best--they say it is a vital component that has not been taken seriously here until recently.

Critics say San Diego is behind the times because of its dogged faith in technological solutions to the trash problem--specifically, the all-but-dead garbage burner planned for Kearny Mesa, They say such faith--shattered earlier this year when the company planning to build the so-called SANDER incinerator pulled out--blinded officials to simpler and more ecologically sensitive remedies like recycling.

‘Have to Scramble’

“San Diego has been single-minded in its approach to garbage, and now we’re going to have to scramble to catch up with all those cities that have been recycling for years,” said Janet Brown, a Tierresanta resident and diehard recycling advocate. “They had one goal--mass burn--because it was a quick fix. They went after a high-tech solution to a low-tech problem.”

In a draft report released Thursday, the city’s own Qualify of Life Board rapped San Diego for “waiting for SANDER” while being “unreceptive” to recycling and other nonburning alternatives.

Most officials dispute the claim that San Diego lags behind other cities on the recycling front. At the same time, they insist San Diego can avoid mistakes by learning from successful programs already afoot.

“We’re picking their brains and not having to reinvent the wheel,” said Robert Epler, director of the city of San Diego’s resource conservation and management program, who admits that at one time, he had little faith in recycling’s potential.

Some leaders, however, like San Diego City Councilwoman Judy McCarty, concede that local progress may have been sluggish because officials placed too heavy an emphasis on SANDER and the county’s trash-to-energy alternative, a plant recently approved by voters in San Marcos.

Others say recycling proposals were hindered by the old-school philosophy behind waste management--pick up as much as you can as quickly as you can and as cheaply as you can. Epler said officials feared recycling would get in the way, hamper efficiency.

Still others contend that it merely took the threat of a crisis to jolt both the populace and those in government into action.

“I think a lot of people knew this time would come . . . but the fact is there was always another place to put (the trash), another way to find more space in the landfill,” Supervisor Susan Golding said. “Now we’re at a crisis point. Basic changes in people’s habits are very difficult to bring about unless you are at a crisis point and can explain to them why they need to change their ways.”

Under plans now being laid, such basic changes may be just around the corner. The city and county contemplate launching curbside pickup programs for cans, bottles and newspapers in the next few years, and some favor making participation mandatory, an approach used by New Jersey and Rhode Island and recently adopted by Philadelphia.

Theoretically, that means if you don’t remove cans, bottles and newspaper from the trash, your garbage may not be picked up.

‘It Makes Sense’

“I think it makes sense to ask people that when they set their garbage out, to please make sure it is separated for us,” said Rick Anthony, newly hired director of waste management programs for the county and former chief of Fresno’s highly acclaimed recycling program. “I think people want to recycle, and if we make it convenient for them to do it, they will.”

Statistics from other cities support that hunch.

In San Jose, recycling was a foreign concept just three years ago. Today, the city provides weekly curbside pickup to 100,000 homes, making it the largest such program in the country. About 60% of the households participate.

“One of our council members likes to say we’ve made it easy for people to do what they know is right,” said Gary Liss, manager of San Jose’s solid waste program.

A slew of other Bay Area communities with curbside service--Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and Marin County among them--have enjoyed similar support from residents.

Local officials plan to tap the experience of these and other areas in drawing up a blueprint for San Diego, where 5% to 10% of the waste stream is recycled today. A pilot curbside program will begin serving about 20,000 homes in the city next summer, and, depending on its success, service will be gradually expanded to all 250,000 single-family households in the city.

To motivate residents, an aggressive public education campaign is planned. While the nonprofit San Diego Ecology Centre has been disseminating pro-recycling propaganda under contract with the city and county since 1970, officials say a blizzard of promotion will usher in the new curbside approach.

No one seems too worried about whether or not San Diegans will be won over. Officials say the area’s strong civic pride, combined with the desire to do something good for the environment, will woo participants.

And recycling is contagious, experts note. Once one person starts putting cans and bottles out, neighbors feel conspicuous if they don’t join in: “It’s sort of like keeping up with the Joneses,” said Brooke Nash, executive director of Solana Recyclers, which provides curbside service to Solana Beach, Del Mar and Encinitas.

$1,000 Reward

If coaxing and peer pressure don’t work, San Diego can always borrow a tactic employed in Rockford, Ill. There, city crews sort through a given resident’s trash can each week and award a $1,000 check to the happy homeowner if it’s free of recyclables.

Curbside pickup is just one element of the strategy being mapped at City Hall and in the county’s administrative offices. Indeed, statistics show that residential pickup can only cut the waste stream by about 7% to 10%, assuming widespread participation.

The city’s proposal includes a mosaic of programs designed to help officials meet their five-year goal--25% reduction of the waste dumped at the Miramar landfill, which is expected to be filled to capacity by 1995.

These include a project at the landfill to buy back recyclables from the estimated 1,500 people who dump there each day. This waste includes wood, landscape prunings and other bulky materials that consume an inordinate amount of space in the dump.

Under another program, city employees soon will be asked to place used white office paper into special containers for recycling. Local businesses will be urged to join in. Other proposals aim to recover oil, batteries, yard waste, scrap steel, tires and a potpourri of other materials now commonly discarded by residents and businesses alike.

County officials, who optimistically estimate that 50% of the waste generated annually can be recycled, have similar plans, outlined in a draft proposal due before supervisors later this month. In addition, they plan to revise the county’s purchasing practices to boost the use of recycled materials and help reach the goal of reclaiming 30% of the waste stream by 1992.

“Take paper,” said Anthony, the county official whose office is crowded with mementos of his trade, including a recycled soccer trophy awarded him for a Fresno program. “In the past we’ve found there are actual specifications in county policy that we buy only 100% virgin fiber. Same thing in the mechanic shop--no recapped tires. How about pens? Do we need new ones or could we get by on refills?”

By requiring that items purchased be easily reusable and made of second-hand materials, the 13,000-employee county government itself can enhance the market for recycled materials, a key to keeping all recycling programs afloat. Anthony also wants the county to serve as “a market of last resort,” available to absorb materials from people unable to unload them anywhere else.

Another high priority for the county is a composting program that would mix ground-up greenery with sewage sludge to create a soil additive for resale to nurseries. In a similar effort, Seattle has devised a way to find profit in dung from animals at the municipal zoo. The so-called Zoo Doo Program mixes 45 tons a month of llama, pony and bison manure with ground up vegetation to make a potent compost that is popular with gardeners. The program saved Seattle $17,000 in landfill disposal costs in 1985.

Cost Unclear

Just what this menu of recycling programs will cost government and the homeowner is unclear. Some communities attach a surcharge to residents’ trash bill to cover the cost of curbside pickup. Del Mar and Encinitas, for example, charge residents 55 cents a month for the privilege, which prompted an outcry from those who already recycle through private programs.

Under an ordinance adopted in 1919, the City of San Diego may not directly charge residents for trash pickup. McCarty said the law may have to be changed to help finance curbside recycling. Others predict an enterprise fund of fees paid by private haulers who use the Miramar landfill will be tapped to cover some of the program expenses not paid for by the sale of recyclables.

The cost of the government’s financial burden is difficult to estimate. Recycling isn’t exactly vastly profitable, but its value in the total waste management scheme has risen in recent years as landfill disposal costs have increased and the future cost of purchasing new landfill sites has become evident.

“Ten or 15 years ago recycling programs were based strictly on what did it cost to collect it, what did you sell it for and did you make a profit,” said Coy Smith, the city’s recycling program coordinator. “Now they’ve started saying this recycling program is doing more than just losing a little money, it’s picking up waste that you don’t have to put in the landfill and that ought to be factored into the picture.”

Recycling is hardly a new phenomenon, but its popularity has alternately soared and waned. During World War II, it was a veritable way of life in this country, as citizens did their patriotic best to ration and reuse nearly everything. But after the wartime crunch faded, Americans lost their zest for the habit.

In the early 1970s, when Earth Day heralded the birth of a national environmental movement, recycling was in vogue once again. Newspaper pickup programs popped up everywhere. Schools adopted campaigns to produce armies of childhood recyclers. In 1974, President Gerald Ford himself urged Americans to make recycling “a way of life.” And that year also saw construction of the first house built entirely with recycled trash, including carpeting made of old burlap bags and shingles of culled glass.

But then the seesaw tipped back the other way, as the nation increasingly became a “throwaway society.” Many community programs--including San Diego’s curbside newspaper pickup system--folded. Some were hurt by a listless public response, while unstable markets was another problem. Also, the absence of technologies for converting some materials for reuse was a hindrance.

Recycling Renaissance

Now, recycling is again enjoying a renaissance. Nearly 40 California cities and counties have established curbside programs and dozens more are considering them. After a two-decade battle, a new state law took effect Oct. 1 and provides a penny refund for cans, bottles and plastic containers returned to supermarket redemption centers. And additional state legislation mandating that communities include recycling in their solid waste management plan has been proposed.

“I think the sheer logic of it finally became obvious,” said William O’Toole, a Del Mar consultant who has worked on recycling projects for San Jose and Berkeley. “The nature of recycling has changed from something the Boy Scouts did--something that was cute--to a viable, serious part of most cities’ waste management strategy.”

Others speculate that the saga of the Islip, N.Y., garbage barge--which hauled 3,586 tons of trash on a 6,000-mile journey in the Atlantic before docking in Brooklyn in June--dramatically drew attention to the nation’s trash calamity and placed it on civic agendas.

But while recycling can take a bite out of the waste stream, even its most ardent supporters concede it alone will not propel San Diego or any other city out of a garbage crisis. In Berkeley, for example, voters in 1984 approved an initiative committing the city to reducing the waste stream by 50% through recycling by 1991. It’s the most ambitious such goal in the nation, but consultants say the best the city can achieve is 43%.

“Theoretically, if you look at an analysis of the waste stream, you’d see that 95% of the materials in there are recyclable,” said Skip Lacaze, a Marin County consultant on waste management issues. “But in the real world, it doesn’t work out that way.”

Most agree that recycling will buy San Diego time while new technologies for converting trash into reusable materials--fuel pellets, construction materials and asphalt among them--come on line. In the interim, the city and county are hunting for a new landfill site, a difficult task given the inevitable opposition from residents. Officials estimate the facility will be open within seven years at a cost of about $30 million.

Some environmentalists, meanwhile, are urging officials to focus attention on the source of the problem--the production of materials that cannot be recycled and do not decompose in the ground. Jim Bell, a consultant who designs energy- and water-efficient housing, said he favors a ban on the sale of materials that do not meet those two criteria.

“What we have to do is make recycled products competitive with those made of virgin materials,” said Bell, who often displays a newly developed biodegradable plastic bag while testifying at public meetings.

Tax Advantage

That, most industry experts agree, is no easy task. Federal tax laws passed near the turn of the century provide subsidies that still favor the harvesting of virgin materials by manufacturers.

“It is very, very difficult to take away tax subsidies,” consultant O’Toole said. “So we’ve had this infrastructure that promotes the extraction and use of raw materials, which makes it very tough for those making recycled products to be competitive.”

Richard Gertman, San Jose’s recycling programs coordinator, said proposed legislation would provide tax credits to companies that use secondary materials to manufacture new goods. Without such incentives, Gertman said, the demand for recyclables will fall short of the growing supply of materials created by the new state law and the advent of programs in San Diego, Los Angeles and other cities.

“The one thing we need to avoid is a glut of these materials, because that hurts everyone,” Gertman said.

Longtime recycling advocates are thrilled that San Diego has embraced recycling as one strategy for dealing with the waste problem. Some, however, say the region’s goals should be more ambitious. And all lament that San Diego did not get started sooner.

“I just think it’s sad that it took public pressure--people like me screaming about this for two and a half years--to get the city to do something as sensible as recycling,” said Janet Brown, who has fought SANDER because of its environmental effects and its lack of a process to remove materials for recycling before burning.

O’Toole agreed: “Until recently, there was no one in government advocating recycling, so what you got was the status quo. It was just something you did to win brownie points. I hope people take it seriously now. Otherwise--it sounds absurd but it isn’t--we may be hauling our trash out to the desert.”

PATH OF RECYCLED MATERIAL GLASS Most glass from San Diego County goes to an Owens-Illinois company plant near Carson, where clear and colored glass is separated, crushed, melted and made into new bottles and glassware. ALUMINUM Most used aluminum cans are recycled into new cans by Alcoa or Reynolds aluminum companies, a process requiring only 5% of the energy needed to make cans from new material. The two firms either smelt the cans in factories out of state or contract with independent California smelters to do the job. NEWSPAPER Some goes to Japan and then returns as pressed cardboard. Other newspapers go to Garden State Paper Co. in Pomona, where the ink is removed and the paper turned into 100% recycled newsprint, to be used by newspapers again. Making paper products from recycled paper consumes 64% less energy. PLASTIC CONTAINERS They are shipped to out-of-state factories where they are recycled into fiber-fill insulation used for jackets, sleeping bags, etc. Heavy plastic, such as buckets, is turned into objects such as floor mats. COMPUTER PAPER Of higher quality and value than newspaper, it is recycled into better-quality or computer paper at the Simpson Paper Co. in Pomona. The only recycling plant in San Diego County is Nelco Oil Refining Corp. in National City, which recycles used motor oil for ships and other industrial uses. Information courtesy of the San Diego Ecology Centre. SAN DIEGO CITY RECYCLING CENTERS ($ denotes buy-back, D denotes donation): Alum. Location Hours Papers Cans Glass Allan Co. 7-5 Mon-Fri $ $ $ 415 14th St., 231-9666 7-3 Sat Associated Fiber 9-3 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 2130 Hancock, 294-4800 Container Corp. 7:30-4:30 Mon-Fri $ 3055 Commercial, 7:30-3 Sat 239-7390 McKinney Beer Dist. 9-1 Mon/Wed/Fri $ 5525 Martin L. King Way, 262-2488 IMS Recycling 8-4 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 2744 Newton Ave., 233-9690 IMS Recycling 7:30-4 Mon-Sat $ $ 1345 S. 27th St., 231-2521 EAST SAN DIEGO Chollas Recycling Bins: anytime D D D College Grove Drive between 54th and College El Cajon Paper Brokers 8-5 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 3088 Euclid Ave., 280-3324 Reynolds Aluminum 9-4:30 Tue-Sat $ 4460 University Ave., 280-7524 Sosa’s Recycling 8-5 Mon-Fri $ $ $ 3575 N. Euclid, 8-3 Sat 282-9827 BEACH AREA UCSD Recycling Co-op Bins: anytime D D D Che Cafe parking lot off N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla NORTH OF INTERSTATE 8 Arena Recycling 7-4 Tue-Sat $ $ D 5433 Gaines St., 291-4400 Clairemont Boys Club 9-5 Mon-Sun $ $ $ 4635 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., 275-1160 Great Western Fibre 7-4 Mon-Sat $ $ D 7844 Armour St., 268-3533 Miramar Landfill Bins: 7-4:30 Mon-Fri D D 8100 Mercury St. 7:30-4:30 Sat-Sun 573-1745 Paper Recovery 8-5 Mon-Fri $ 5222 Lovelock, 291-5257 Reynolds Aluminum (mobile) 9:30-1 Tue-Sat $ 6907 Linda Vista Road, Linda Vista Reynolds Aluminum (mobile) 9:30-5 Tue-Sat $ Mira Mesa Mall, 8310 Mira Mesa Blvd. CURBSIDE OR COMMUNITY SERVICES Christ Lutheran Bins: anytime D D Chalcedony at Cass St., 483-2300 Coronado Optimist Club 9-1 1st Sat $ 2nd and A streets, of each month 435-1628 Coronado’s 20/30 Club, Starts at 8 on 1st D Coronado residents are Sun of each month asked to bundle newspapers on the curb, 435-6401. Encinitas YMCA Bins: anytime D 200 Saxony Road, 942-9628 Mt. Carmel High School 1st Sat of each month D 9550 Carmel Mountain Rd., (band room), 484-1180 Oceanside Disposal Weekly D D D Residents are asked to leave materials on curb, 439-2824 Poway High School 3rd Sat of each month D D 15500 Espola Road, 487-0626 Richland School Bins: anytime D 910 E. Borden Road, San Marcos, 744-1602 Solana Recyclers Bi-weekly D D D Solana Beach/Del Mar residents are asked to leave materials on curb, 481-1368 Vista Boys Club Bins: anytime D D 410 W. California Ave., Vista, 724-6606

SAN DIEGO COUNTY RECYCLING CENTERS ($ denotes buy-back, D denotes donation): Alum. Location Hours Papers Cans Glass Ace Metals 7-4:30 Mon-Fri $ $ 720 W. 23rd St., 7-noon Sat National City, 474-8523 Lance Recycling 8-4:30 Mon-Sat $ $ 3151 Main St., Chula Vista 585-0104 Pacific Steel 8-4 Mon-Fri $ 1700 Cleveland Ave., 8-11 Sat National City, 474-7081 Paul Brown South Bay 8-4:30 Mon-Fri $ $ $ Recycling Center 8-4 Sat 149 Center St., Chula Vista, 425-7197 Otay Landfill Buy-Back 8-4:30 Mon, Wed-Fri $ $ $ Recycle America, 8-4 Sat-Sun 1751 Maxwell St., 425-7197 Reynolds Aluminum (mobile) 9-4:30 Tue/Thu/Sat $ 1860 Coronado Ave., Imperial Beach So. California Paper Co. 8-4 Mon-Fri $ 694 Moss St., Chula Vista, 425-3343 EAST COUNTY California Metals 8-5 Mon-Fri $ $ 297 S. Marshall, 8-12:15 Sat El Cajon, 444-3111 Miller Metal 8-4:30 Mon-Fri $ 636 Front St., El Cajon, 444-2136, Parkway Paper Stock 8-4 Tue-Sat $ $ 1352 Pioneer Way, El Cajon, 444-3144 Reynolds Aluminum (mobile) 9:30-5 Tue-Sat $ Spring Valley Mall, 627 Sweetwater Road Universal Recycling Center 7:30-4:30 Mon-Fri $ $ D Sycamore Landfill at end 8-4 Sat-Sun of Mast Boulevard, Santee, 448-4295 NORTH COUNTY Glass Banks Bin: anytime D Boney’s Market, 705 E. Vista Way, Vista, 758-7175 Glass Banks Bin: anytime D Sears Savings Bank, 345 W. Broadway, Vista, 724-4880 Liberty Recycling 8-4 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 5960 El Camino Real, Carlsbad, 744-2024 Liberty Recycling 8-4 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 2265 Jimmy Durante Way, Del Mar, 744-2024 Liberty Recycling 8-4 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 627 E. Mission Road, San Marcos, 744-2024 North County Recycling 8-4 Tue-Sat $ $ 757 N. Santa Fe, Vista, 941-1498 Oceanside Recycling Center 8-4 Tue-Sat $ $ D 1440 S. Pacific St., (bin) Oceanside, 722-7679 Optimist Center 9-4:30 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 1180 W. Washington, Escondido, 743-2028 Rancho Bernardo Recycling Bin: anytime D No. end of W. Bernardo Dr. Rancho Bernardo, 487-1767 Reynolds Aluminum (mobile) 9:30-5 Tue-Sat $ 1327 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas Reynolds Aluminum (mobile) 9:30-1 and $ 143 Ammunition Road, 1:30-5 Tue-Sat Fallbrook Reynolds Aluminum (mobile) 9:30-1 and $ 1535 W. Vista Way, 1:30-5 Tue-Sat Vista, 741-4078 Skyline Recycling Center 8:30-5 Mon-Sat $ $ $ 123 W. Washington, Escondido, 741-5236

ALUMINUM CANS BUY-BACK IN GROCERY STORES Under a new state law, supermarkets with more than $2 million in annual sales must establish a state-certified recycling center to accept aluminum, glass and plastic beverage containers within half mile of their premises. The stores must establish the centers by Jan. 1 or face fines of $100 a day. To locate the center nearest you, call 1-800-237-2583. HOW RECYCLING SAVES ENERGY Chart shows the equivalent energy savings in gasoline and electricity when newspaper, aluminum cans and glass containers are made from recycled materials.* NEWSPAPER 100 lbs. or a 36-inch stack. ELECTRICITY: 73 kilowatt hours of electricity, or about 14% of the average residential electric bill, or enough to light 100-watt bulb more than 700 hours. GASOLINE: 2 gallons of gasoline ALUMINUM CANS 1 lb. or 26 cans ELECTRICITY: 29 kilowatt hours, which is enough to light a 100-watt bulb for 290 hours or enough to play a radio 3 hours a day for 4 months. GASOLINE: More than 3/4 of a gallon, or about 4 ounces per single 12 oz. can. GLASS CONTAINERS 100 lbs. ELECTRICITY: 29 kilowatt hours, which is enough to light a 100-watt bulb for 290 hours or enough to play a radio 3 hours a day for 4 months. GASOLINE: 3/4 of a gallon of gasoline. * Recycling also saves non-energy resources. For example, recycling a ton of newspaper saves about 17 trees and 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. SOURCE: Estimates based on data provided by Jerry Powell of Resource Conservation Consultants Inc., American Paper Institute, Garden State Paper Co., Southern California Edison Co.