ECONOTES : They’re Not Just Talking Garbage

It used to be called trash collecting. Now it’s resource recovery.

And that’s not all that has changed in the world of garbage, as next week’s program for the California Resource Recovery Assn. proves. The association’s 17th annual conference, opening Sunday in Long Beach, has a decidedly futuristic air.

“We hold the recycling movement in our hands, and it’s going to change the way we live over the next decade,” predicts association President Rick Anthony of San Diego. “When garbage goes to a landfill, it sits there and does nothing. When garbage is recycled, it goes back to the production loop, where it creates new jobs and new products.”

That’s what the state’s recyclers will be discussing during their four-day conference aboard the Queen Mary (“a recycled ship,” Anthony notes).

They’ll hear legislative updates on AB 939, the state law requiring municipalities to reduce their trash 25% by 1995 and 50% by the year 2000. They will learn nuts-and-bolts strategies for implementing the law, hear success stories ranging from recycling in the office to designing a home composting system, and get a preview of new technology.

The public may attend.

“If you’re at all interested in recycling, it will be informational and educational,” says registrar Connie Stroth of the California Department of Conservation. “And the networking is phenomenal.”

For registration fees and more information, call (310) 590-7443.