Anaheim Simplifies Recycling in Pilot Program

Ever since Ruth Wilcox heard earlier this year that Anaheim was starting a recycling program, she has been saving her cans and newspapers. Now, instead of having her recyclables gathering dust in the garage, the 77-year-old Wilcox will be able to dump them into a 110-gallon can and know the papers and cans won’t be going to waste.

“I think it’s great,” Wilcox said. “I’m a saver, you know. I just hated to throw away all those newspapers.”

Today, Wilcox joins about 11,000 other Anaheim households in the start of a pilot program designed to appeal to the frustrated recycler. People generally think recycling is a good idea, but they quickly tire of sorting trash into three or four containers for aluminum, glass, plastic and newspapers, said Ric Collett, director of recycling for Anaheim Disposal Inc.

So in Anaheim, there will be just two cans to deal with: one for recyclables and one for the rest of the trash. The sorting will be done by workers of the disposal company.

“Research does say the simpler you can make it, the more participation you get,” Collett said.

If the yearlong test program is successful, recycling will gradually spread to the rest of Anaheim’s 234,000 residents, he said.

Until now, Irvine has been the only Orange County city with a recycling system. Irvine’s two-year-old program uses the multicontainer approach to serve 26,000 households, and has a participation rate of about 71%, according to city statistics.

But due to a combination of environmental concerns and the increasing cost of landfill fees, recycling programs are on their way to a number of Orange County cities this fall. In November, the cities of Brea and Laguna Beach are scheduled to begin curb-side recycling programs, and Costa Mesa is starting a program in which residents don’t have to do any sorting. The city Sanitation District is taking the unsorted trash of Costa Mesa’s 91,900 residents to a processing center where the recyclables and nonrecyclables will be separated.

State lawmakers also turned up the heat on the recycling issue recently by passing a bill requiring all California cities to reduce by half the amount of solid waste being taken to landfills before the year 2000. The measure now awaits the signature of Gov. George Deukmejian.

The catalyst for much of this concern occurred in 1987, Collett believes, when there was widespread media coverage of a Long Island garbage barge that roamed for more than five months--traveling 5,000 miles--in search of a dump.

“It really woke a lot of people up,” Collett said.

As a result, people such as Anaheim resident Mike Blackwell are familiar with the problems of solid waste disposal and receptive to idea of recycling.

“It’s great,” Blackwell said, looking at his newly delivered trash cans for recycling. “We’ve been expecting it.”

To pay for the program, the city generated $2.7 million, in part through a citywide garbage rate increase. The monthly household garbage fee was raised in March to $7.03 from $6.11.

But only 27 cents of the increase will go toward recycling. The balance will cover recent increases in landfill dumping fees, which are up 130% since the start of the year, officials said.

To make sure the recycling program touches a cross section of city residents, officials selected households along five different trash routes.

Several months ago, Anaheim Disposal began sending several letters to each household taking part in the program and conducting community meetings to explain how the procedure will work.

The trash company has provided each participating household with two 110-gallon cans, one black and one green. Nonrecyclable trash, to be placed in the black can, will continue to be collected once a week on regular pickup days.

The recyclables in the green can will be picked up every other week on garbage days by a truck trailing behind the regular garbage truck. Trash hauling under the recycling program will also take on a new look in Anaheim because newly purchased automated garbage trucks will reach out two robotic arms to lift the trash cans off the curb and empty them into the bins of the vehicles.

Collett said some residents were worried about the size of the new trash cans, which stand 41 inches tall and are 31 1/2 inches in diameter. But the cans, with built-in wheels, are designed to be tipped back and easily moved around, Collett said. For those residents still unable to manage, however, Anaheim Disposal will swap the b110-gallon size for a 60-gallon container, he said.

After persuading people to begin sorting their trash, the next step is to teach them about the variety of materials than can be recycled, said Rita Tagge, recycling coordinator for Anaheim Disposal.

For instance, glass recycling is not limited to beer bottles, she said. Any glass container, from peanut butter jars to vinegar bottles, can be recycled. And besides newspapers, other paper products such as magazines, notebook paper, telephone books, cereal boxes and even junk mail can go into the recyclable can.

“They don’t have to clean it, they don’t have to take the labels off,” Tagge said. “They can throw it all into one can.”

TAKING OUT THE GARBAGE

Today, about 11,000 Anaheim households begin a curbside recycling program that is unique because it doesn’t require them to sort trash before tossing it. The city will provide residents with two 110-gallon cans: one for recyclables and one for other discards.

Question--So how much recyclable garbage does Anaheim generate each year?

Answer--If placed end to end, it would stretch the 24 miles from Anaheim to Los Angeles. Cardboard: 841 tons Newspaper: 7,685 tons Aluminum cans: 492 tons Mixed paper waste: 8,035 tons Glass: 10,655 tons

Question--So what’s in a typical American household’s garbage can?

Answer--According to a federal report prepared by Franklin Associates, this: paper and paperboard: 42.1% food and yard waste: 23.4% glass: 9.4% metals: 9.2% plastics: 6.5% other: 9.4%.

Source: City of Anaheim and Franklin Associates’ 1984 report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency