California City Taking Steps to Meet Mandate

In its effort to meet state recycling mandates and avert potential fines of up to $10,000 a day, the city of Fresno, Calif., is looking everywhere to reduce the amount of trash headed to the landfill.

The city faces a Dec. 31 deadline to prevent at least half its waste from going into landfills, or it could face the state-imposed fines. The latest report shows the city is recycling 29 percent of its waste.

Fresno doesn't expect to make the deadline, and state officials say fines are unlikely as long as the city shows a good-faith effort to reach the 50 percent goal.

City officials say they are doing just that.

Last week, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring commercial businesses, apartments and condominiums to recycle. In addition, the ordinance requires construction and demolition debris to be recycled.

Those are the big steps toward reaching the goal, city officials say, because businesses and multifamily residential complexes are lagging in the recycling effort.

Currently, 85 percent of residences are participating in recycling, and 56 percent of the city's residential waste is being recycled.

By comparison, only 30 percent of businesses are participating in recycling, and just 21 percent of the city's total commercial waste is being recycled.

For apartments and condominium complexes, the numbers are even worse. Nearly 6 percent have recycling, and just 4.5 percent of the waste created by these complexes — which number 2,226 in Fresno — is being recycled.

"If we can duplicate in commercial what we're doing in residential, we'd be well above 50 percent," said Bob Gedert, chief of recycling operations for the city's Solid Waste Division.

The city also is looking at small steps, such as starting recycling at Fresno Yosemite International Airport.

City officials announced Wednesday they'll place recycling containers around the airport and hope to collect 18 to 20 tons of recyclable trash each year, most of it discarded newspapers and water bottles.

It's a minuscule amount compared to the 136,000 tons of recyclables and green waste Fresno currently diverts from landfills, but every bit helps at this point because of the looming deadline.

The city is even doing a study to make sure it is getting credit for all the waste it recycles.

If nothing else, it is progress, and every bit of progress helps, officials said.

"What the Integrated Waste Board wants to see is we're moving down the path," said William Skinner, the city's solid waste division manager.

Integrated Waste Board officials agreed.

"We need to see measurable progress," said spokeswoman Roni Java. "We need to see a good-faith effort."

Fines, she said, are a last resort.

The 29 percent recycling figure for the city is from the state's 2002 report. The state is working on its 2003 reports, and Fresno's report to the state for 2004 is due in a month.

"We believe we're doing better than 29 percent," Gedert said.

In fact, Fresno officials believe the city is diverting closer to 40 percent of its waste from landfills. The study should help establish that.

Among other things, Fresno believes it is not getting credit for recycling waste created by big-box retailers such as Wal-Mart. One example, Skinner said, is cardboard boxed up by the retailers and shipped from Fresno.

The study also is trying to get a better idea just how much is being recycled by businesses and apartments. Results are expected in the spring.

Java said the average percentage of waste recycled statewide is 48 percent. Of the 445 local governments facing the Dec. 31 deadline, a little more than half have met the 50 percent goal.

In the meantime, Fresno will continue to work toward the goal, even if it means placing stainless steel cans with blue tops around the airport, where such things as newspapers, books, magazines, aluminum cans and plastic water bottles can be recycled.

Such containers also can be found at City Hall, the Convention Center and Grizzlies Stadium, city officials said.

Said Skinner: "Every little bit helps." Fresno Bee