YORBA LINDA : Residents Recycling Nearly 25% of Waste

Four months into a curbside recycling program, households have cut the amount of waste going to landfills by nearly 25%, according to the city’s waste hauler.

Since July, residents separated an average 24% of their waste, just shy of a state mandate that requires each city to reduce the amount of its waste going to landfills by 25% by 1995, according to officials of Yorba Linda Disposal.

Residents place newspapers, glass, aluminum cans and other recyclables into green bins that are collected during regular curbside trash collection.

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Richard Collett, manager of Yorba Linda Disposal. “That’s a pretty phenomenal number.”

In July, when the recycling program started, residents cut waste by 26.6%. They followed with a 24.3% reduction in August, a 24.7% cut in September and 24.9% in October.

Overall, the company has recovered 2,295 tons of waste since the program started and has collected $97,000 in revenue from the recyclables.

The disposal firm is a subsidiary of Taormina Industries, which also operates waste companies in Placentia and Anaheim. Residents have cut their waste by 28% in Placentia and by 26% in Anaheim, but their programs have been in place for several years.

The company is also testing a program to compost yard clippings, tree trimmings, manure and other organic material.