SIMI VALLEY : Council Approves Recycling Contract

The Simi Valley City Council voted Monday to enter into an agreement with American Simi-Rubbish Co. to operate the city’s soon-to-be expanded curbside recycling program, which will include 13,000 households.

The council voted 5 to 0 to approve a one-year contract with the sanitation company, with an option to extend for another year. The cost to the city will be $8,332 per month.

The council also voted to spend $128,000 on new 32-gallon plastic bins for all participating households, city officials said.

“We are really happy to get this program off the ground,” Councilwoman Ann Rock said. “Anything we can divert from a landfill will prolong the life of that operation.”

Already about 1,000 households in neighborhoods scattered throughout Simi Valley are served by a pilot curbside recycling program, said Catherine Unseth, a consultant to the city’s Environmental Service Department.

Beginning April 9, the recycling operation will expand to include more than 12,000 new households, Unseth said. By April, 1991, the program is expected to serve all 25,000 households in the city, Unseth said.

A recent state law requires that cities devise a plan by the end of the year to reduce the flow of trash into landfills by 25% by 1995 and by 50% by the turn of the century.

Ventura became the first city in the county to implement a recycling program on Oct. 9. Thousand Oaks, Camarillo, Oxnard and Ojai are considering instituting their own programs in the near future.