Long Beach : Curbside Recycling Set to Begin Within 6 Months

City residents will be able to sort plastic bottles, glass and newspaper from their garbage and have it picked up at their curbside when the city’s recycling program goes into effect in the next six months.

The City Council awarded the bid for the recycling project Tuesday to Waste Management of California Inc., the lowest of three bids for the seven-year contract.

Waste Management will give residents a plastic 18-gallon bin that can be filled with recyclable trash ranging from aluminum and tin to cardboard and newspapers. Residents will be charged $2.65 a month to cover collection costs and educational programs.

The program will begin for about 25,000 residents within the next four months and the remaining neighborhoods will be phased in gradually, recycling coordinator James Kuhl told the City Council on Tuesday.

The state has mandated that all cities develop a recycling plan to divert 25% of their waste from landfills by 1995 and 50% by 2000.

“We have an obligation to the people who come to this Earth after us,” Mayor Ernie Kell said. “We have an obligation to leave them more than a headstone.”