MOORPARK : Expanded Recycling Program Sought

Moorpark city officials are searching for ways to expand a recycling program to include the city’s larger apartment and condominium complexes, a city official said.

The city’s recycling program, established this summer, now serves only residents of single-family homes and small multifamily complexes who are able to take their trash and recyclable materials to their curbs, said Mary Lindley, assistant to the city manager.

About 43% of households who have the recycling service use it to dispose of newspapers, glass, cans, plastic, Styrofoam and cardboard, Lindley said.

City officials said they are looking for ways to extend the program to the city’s largest apartment and condominium complexes, she said.

“We’re taking a look at how other cities are doing it, and they haven’t been real successful,” Lindley said. “Participation tends to be low in multifamily complexes.”

Three apartment complexes and three condominium complexes in the city have a total of 867 housing units, she said.

The city cannot simply put bins for collecting recyclable materials in the complexes’ parking lots, Lindley said. A Moorpark ordinance requires that dumpsters be concealed by walls, she said.

City officials have considered replacing some trash dumpsters with recycling bins, but that would force residents of the large complexes to walk farther to dispose of both their trash and recyclables, Lindley said. The inconvenience might discourage residents from recycling, she said.

Officials are now investigating sending all the trash from the six complexes to a Sun Valley company that would sort out the recyclable materials, Lindley said.

City officials hope to establish a recycling program for residents of multifamily buildings by March, she said.