THOUSAND OAKS : Recycling Program to Be Weighed

With weekly agenda packets that outweigh the local phone book, Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Jaime Zukowski goes through a lot of paper. After each meeting, she recycles the castoffs--and now, she wants to make it easy for other residents to follow suit.

Zukowski would like the city to offer free cardboard boxes, printed with recycling tips, to all Thousand Oaks residents. Already, the utilities department hands out recycling boxes to area businesses.

“All council members have the recycling boxes in their homes, and I’m lost without mine,” Zukowski said. “The container’s just the right size for paper. It lists all the different kinds of paper you can recycle, and it’s very convenient.”

City staff members estimated the cost of Zukowski’s program--which the City Council will consider Tuesday night--at about $2,500. The utilities department has 3,400 boxes ready for distribution.

Although distributing boxes would be somewhat costly, Zukowski said the city might end up saving some money by cutting the amount of waste it sends to the Simi Valley landfill. After yard clippings, paper is the second-largest component of the city’s waste stream, she said.