SIMI VALLEY : Curbside Recycling Program Expanded

Simi Valley will expand its curbside recycling program to include apartment buildings, condominiums and mobile homes.

The City Council unanimously approved the expanded recycling program Monday. About 3,000 of the city’s 6,800 residents who live in large residential buildings and mobile homes will be served by the new program, which is expected to cost an estimated $24,450, officials said.

The recycling program had been limited to about 24,000 single-family houses.

Jocelyn Reed, deputy director of the city’s Environmental Services Department, said the program will be expanded at the end of July or in early August.

The residential complexes and mobile home parks chosen for the program are able to provide sites for recycling bins, Reed said.

The households served by the new program will receive two large plastic buckets in which to place newspapers, glass, plastic bottles and other recyclables. Residents then put the recyclables in large bins that will be picked up on regular trash days.

City officials said the expanded recycling program is necessary to comply with a state law that requires all cities to reduce the flow of trash into landfills by 25% by 1995, and 50% by the turn of the century.

Reed said the city has filed an application for a grant from the state Department of Conservation to further expand its recycling program so that all residents can be served.