L.A. County’s New Recycling Service Areas

Los Angeles County this month began a voluntary curbside trash recycling program for 36,000 households in five unincorporated areas. The program-which began in the Altadena/ La Cresenta and Montrose areas and will be rolled out to East Pasadena and Hacienda heights on Feb. 5 and Lennox in March-requires all private trash haulers who work in the areas to pick up recycable materials at the curb as par of their regular residential service. Homeowners are being asked to voluntarily separate glass, and plastic bottles, cans and newspapers from the rest of their garbage. County officials said that most haulers have agreed to provide homeowners with separate bins and bags for the recyclables and to pick up the material for additional monthly charges of $1 to $1.50 per household-whether or not residents participate. The program is only for residents in these small pockets of unicorporated territory and has no effect on surrounding towns.