These Days, Garbage Isn’t Waste Anymore : Pollution: From curbside programs to redemption centers, the area is one of Southern California’s most active recycling regions.

Keith Pedroni figures it’s a healthy process. Every weekend he and a few friends gather at his Arcadia apartment to drink beer and watch television.

And every month he lugs the empty cans and bottles to the Monrovia Recycling Center to cash them in.

“The more people would do it, the world would be a better place,” the 23-year-old courier and Pasadena City College student said.

Other San Gabriel Valley residents seem to agree; industry and government officials say the San Gabriel Valley is one of Southern California’s most active recycling regions. From city-sponsored curbside programs to voluntary treks to recycling centers, area residents have taken recycling to heart.

And with recent legislation aimed at drastically reducing California’s waste stream, every indication is that recycling will continue to grow here and throughout the state.

As in much of California, widespread recycling is relatively new to the San Gabriel Valley. Local groups have long used newspaper drives as a way to make money, but it is only since the passage of California’s “Bottle Bill” in 1987 that most of the region’s 100-plus recycling centers have sprung up.

Officially called the Beverage Container Recycling Act, the law requires that redemption sites be established within a half-mile of stores that sell large numbers of recycleable drink containers. In most cases that means the parking lots of major grocery stores.

Although intended to increase the recycling of glass bottles, the law also helped boost recycling of plastic bottles, aluminum cans and newspapers, said Dave Henderson, general manager of Pomona’s Smurfit Newsprint Corp.

Henderson, whose company processes old newspapers into new newsprint, said recycling centers that grew out of the Bottle Bill opted in most cases to accept aluminum, paper and plastic, in addition to glass bottles targeted by the law.

Lee Johnson is vice president of government affairs at 20/20 Recycling Inc. 20/20 operates 15 collection sites in the San Gabriel Valley and is one of three companies that dominate the area’s recycling market.

Johnson said the Bottle Bill set the stage for recycling in the state, but two recent factors got Californians actively involved: an increase in redemption values on beverage containers and Earth Day.

In January, the state raised the redemption value on aluminum cans and glass and plastic bottles from a penny apiece to two for 5 cents.

That move, Johnson said, tripled the number of containers people in the San Gabriel Valley brought in to 20/20’s collection sites. Similar increases were reported by the San Gabriel Valley’s other main recyclers, ENVIPCO California and Mobile Recycling Inc.

“As soon as you tie it to a nickel, there’s a whole psychological effect” that makes people think of recycling as profitable, Johnson said.

Two months after redemption values were raised, Earth Day was held. The international celebration raised public awareness of the environment and the need for recycling, Johnson said.

Locally, Pasadena Earth Day organizers set up nine “villages” with different environmental themes, and the city sponsored educational and scientific talks at locations throughout the city. In addition, an Earth Day bicycle race was held in the city starting at the Rose Bowl and special shuttles were temporarily installed in town to discourage driving during the day.

With the higher redemption values already in place, Earth Day gave Californians the impetus to recycle at unprecedented levels, Johnson said.

“I think the timing couldn’t have been better,” Johnson said.

In addition to recycling through collection centers, 14 San Gabriel Valley communities have voluntary curbside recycling programs. They are Alhambra, Arcadia, Baldwin Park, Claremont, Diamond Bar, Duarte, El Monte, Hacienda Heights, La Verne, Monrovia, Pasadena, San Dimas, South Pasadena and Walnut.

Two other cities--Glendora and West Covina--are in the process of establishing such programs, and within two years all San Gabriel Valley cities will probably have curbside recycling, said William George, recycling coordinator for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts.

In most curbside programs, residents separate recycleable items from their household garbage and put them in a special container provided by the city. On trash day, the residents take the containers out with their garbage cans and the city collects the materials.

Barbara Cathey is an administrator for the city of Pasadena and oversees its curbside program. Cathey said that, since its inception in March, the Pasadena recycling program has reduced the city’s garbage output by about 10%.

Cathey said 30% to 50% of the city’s households participate each week. All households are charged $1.50 per month for the service. Other cities charge between 60 cents and $2.50 for similar services.

“People like the idea of recycling a great deal,” Cathey said.

Companies like 20/20, ENVIPCO and Mobile Recycling initially feared municipal curbside programs would reduce the popularity of their collection sites. Why drive to a redemption center when recycling is as easy as taking out the trash, they wondered.

Instead, the companies found that residents of cities with curbside programs use their services more than those of other cities.

“It looks like there’s a place for both,” Mobile Recycling President Ron Schweitzer said.

Mobile operates 15 redemption sites in the San Gabriel Valley. Schweitzer said residents of cities with curbside programs are generally more aware of the need for recycling and therefore are more likely to seek out redemption centers.

Besides, he said, people will always want to make money. Instead of throwing bottles, cans and newspapers away, or giving them to the city, some people will always redeem their recycleables for profit.

“Even in a curbside environment they are entitled to get their money back,” Schweitzer said.

Officials say that increased use of neighborhood recycling centers and expanded curbside programs will go a long way to decreasing the state’s garbage volume. But whether it will be enough to forestall the predicted filling of California’s landfills by the year 2000 remains to be seen.

To buy the state extra time, Gov. George Deukmejian signed Assembly Bill 939 in September, which mandates that all California cities reduce their waste flow by 25% by the year 1995 and 50% by the year 2000.

By recycling, composting and limiting the use of non-recyclable material at the city level, the state hopes to prevent the need to ship its garbage elsewhere.

Meeting the bill’s 1995 goal is possible, said George, the county’s recycling coordinator, but it will not be easy. The county already recycles about 15% of the 50,000 tons of garbage it takes in each day, he said, but boosting that figure to 25% will be key.

“The next 10% will be tough,” he said.

Reducing waste flow is a particularly hot topic in the San Gabriel Valley, where three landfills that serve the area could soon close.

Spadra landfill near Pomona will very likely be full by the year 2000, West Covina’s BKK landfill has agreed to shut down by 1995 and the operating permit for the Puente Hills landfill will expire in 1993, county officials said.

In addition, Scholl Canyon landfill in Glendale told its municipal customers last year that they must reduce the amount of waste they produce by 5%. Scholl serves the San Gabriel Valley cities of Pasadena, San Marino and South Pasadena.

RECYCLING PROGRAMS

The following San Gabriel Valley communities have citywide curbside recycling programs

Alhambra

Arcadia

Baldwin Park

Claremont

Diamond Bar

Duarte

El Monte

Hacienda Heights

(unincorporated Los

Angeles County)

La Verne

Monrovia

Pasadena

San Dimas

South Pasadena

Walnut

These cities are establishing such programs

Glendora

West Covina