BURBANK : Recycling Program to Star on Earth Day

Burbank will be showing off its recycling program and teaching lessons about the environment during its Earth Day celebration next Friday.

“Our center is doing well and we wanted to show it to people,” said Hope McAloon, a Burbank recycling specialist. Burbank began recycling in 1982, making its program one of the oldest in the state.

Recycling in Burbank has grown from 400 tons of cans, bottles, newspapers and cardboard per month in 1982 to 3,000 tons last month. A big reason for the increase was the automated trash-pickup program that started last year, McAloon said.

Two-thirds of Burbank garbage collection customers participate in the system, in which trash, yard trimmings and recyclables are collected in separate bins by a hydraulic arm. The program’s phase-in started in April, 1993, and the entire city will be served by September.

The Earth Day event will take place Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Burbank Recycle Center, 500 S. Flower St. at the corner of Verdugo Avenue.

Tours of a new learning center, demonstrations of the recycling process and exhibits on water and electricity conservation are included. A local naturalist will show how insects and worms turn yard trimmings and vegetable peels into soil.

The event represents one of the city’s larger Earth Day celebrations since 1990, she added.