GLENDALE : Expansion Planned at Recycling Center

In an effort to keep up with the increase in newspapers, containers and other items people are recycling, Glendale officials said, the city’s recycling center is being expanded.

Since the recycling center at 800 Flower St. opened in March, 1993, the city’s curbside recycling program has steadily grown in popularity. The center now needs more room to store and sort the incoming materials, said Rudy Umana, the city’s recycling coordinator.

“The expansion will allow us to take in more of the types of materials that we already accept, and to process it more efficiently,” Umana said. “Also, there will be additional types of recyclable material that we’ll be able to accept.”

The City Council awarded a $180,000 contract last month to the Glendale-based George C. Hopkins construction company to build the 26,000-square-foot expansion, which will consist of new storage areas. The expansion will be built on city-owned property adjacent to the center, which is already 41,000 square feet in size, and should be completed by summer, officials said.

The recycling center now accepts newspapers, phone books, glass, plastic, white paper and aluminum and tin containers.

The expansion will allow it to begin accepting cardboard as well.

City officials said they are also investigating the feasibility of collecting magazines, colored paper, brown paper bags, corrugated cardboard, computer paper and other types of paper waste that are now accepted only by some commercial recycling centers.

“Paper makes up roughly one-third of most waste streams,” Umana said. “When we are able to accept mixed paper, that will eliminate a lot of material that’s now going into the landfill.”

In the city’s curbside pickup program, residents sort their newspapers, cans and yard waste into separate containers. If the city adds a container for mixed paper, modifications would be required to its fleet of automated trash trucks, officials said.