Group Lauds 2 Cities for Commitment to Recycling

Santa Monica and West Hollywood were lauded Wednesday for their participation in a program committing them to use recycled office paper.

“Santa Monica is a role model,” Mike Newhouse, a campaign director for the California Public Interest Research Group, said at a Santa Monica City Hall news conference, where a report on state and local Buy Recycled policies was released.

CALPIRG and other state-based public interest research groups launched a campaign in 1995 to have state and local governments commit themselves to implement Buy Recycled policies at least as strong as the federal government’s, which requires agencies to buy paper with at least 20% “post-consumer content.”

(Post-consumer content is defined as recycled content coming from local recycling programs rather than manufacturing scrap, said Veronica Marzilli, CALPIRG’s Buy Recycled campaign coordinator.)

“For too long, we concentrated on putting our recyclables in the right box,” Marzilli said. “Now we go one step further and use government’s purchasing power to create a stable, long-term demand for these materials.”

Santa Monica had been operating under the Buy Recycled guidelines since its City Council unanimously endorsed the campaign in fall 1995. The West Hollywood City Council approved a similar motion May 20.

“We are surpassing the goals that were set at the time,” Santa Monica Mayor Paul Rosenstein said. “Santa Monica has declared itself a sustainable city. We are committed to making this community a better place to live than we found it.”

The city’s other environmental efforts include paving streets with recycled tires and reclaimed asphalt, operating city vehicles with alternative fuels and retread tires, and recycling motor oil.

Paper with at least 20% post-consumer content cost Santa Monica more than non-recycled paper three to four years ago, but the prices are “pretty close” now, Environmental and Public Works Management Department Director Craig Perkins said. The city’s total environmental efforts have “no negative financial impact,” said Perkins.

California is among seven states with recycling purchase policies as strong as the federal government’s, according to Closing the Loop, the report issued Wednesday. Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island also have established policies, although not equaling the federal standards.

Santa Monica and West Hollywood are among 125 local governments nationwide and 27 in California to adopt Buy Recycled policies.

CALPIRG’s goal is to have six more governments in the state adopt Buy Recycled policies by the end of the year, Marzilli said.