Volunteer Group Wins Grant to Show That Recycling Works

The only successful neighborhood recycling program in the San Fernando Valley has been awarded a state grant to raise awareness of recycling in Los Angeles, an effort that will include an art contest featuring trash exhibits.

The Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn. received a grant of $5,112 from the state Department of Conservation as part of an annual program to encourage recycling.

“We need to network with the groups around the city to get them involved in demanding we have mandatory recycling without charging householders,” said Eileen Barry of the association. “We’re trying to show the city this can be done without charging the householders, without buying expensive equipment. You can provide jobs for unskilled workers.”

Association volunteers began separating trash in May, 1988, contributing their labor and paying the expenses to pick up recyclable materials from neighbors who request the service. The association redeems the goods at recycling centers and has used proceeds to buy books, pay for community beautification projects and meet legal fees to fight expansion of nearby Lopez Canyon Landfill.

With the grant, the group will produce a monthly newsletter to be mailed to 2,500 Lake View Terrace households and to civic leaders in 50 other communities in Los Angeles County. The association also will solicit entries for the Recycled Art Show, to be held April 21 at the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center. All artwork must be made from recyclable material.

The association’s creative proposals were among 64 submitted to the state Conservation Department awards selection committee, which decided how to allocate $860,000 in redemption fees paid by beverage distributors. Thirty-two proposals were approved.

“It’s the hands-on type of project that’s going to make recycling a success in California,” said Janie Cordray, a community programs coordinator in the Department of Conservation. “We really like to see some tangible results. A lot of people say they want to do this, but this particular organization has already proven themselves.”

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), who attended a small ceremony announcing the state grant at the Woodsey Owl Neighborhood Recycling Center in Van Nuys, sees the association’s work as proof that people are willing to separate trash.

“The city kept saying, ‘We’re concerned. The public won’t support trash separation,’ ” he said. “The whole time the city of Los Angeles was studying, having reports made, these folks were just doing it. They did it voluntarily, without government help.”