Glendale Law Protects Trash Recycling Plan

The Glendale City Council has outlawed the removal from trash containers of reusable items that the city itself wants to recycle.

The ordinance, designed to protect a citywide recycling program starting in October, prohibits the collection of glass and aluminum containers and newspapers from containers set by the curb. The City Council adopted the law Tuesday.

Residents will be asked to separate reusable items from their trash and place them in special containers for the city to collect for the recycling program. The city will sell the items to help pay for the program.

Junk collectors who pick up the material illegally are subject to a maximum penalty of $600 in fines and six months in jail.

The recycling program is expected to help extend the life of the city’s only landfill--Scholl Canyon--by reducing the amount of trash dumped there.

The council voted in April to expand citywide an experimental recycling program that began in October, 1986. About 29% of 1,000 families in a 24-block neighborhood on the northwest border of the city regularly participated in the pilot program, said George A. Miller, public works director.

Miller said reusable material accounts for an estimated 10% to 20% of household trash. The city last month levied a 5% general increase in trash collection fees to help pay for the program and the special containers that will be distributed.