Palo Alto Scraps Recycling Hub for Park

Palo Alto, Calif., city council has sided with residents who favor preserving the city's open space rather than with public works officials for the city, who wanted to convert the city's bayland park landfill into an environmental services center.

According to a report in the San Francisco Examiner, the city council has opted to convert the landfill, once it is full, into parks. Using the land for anything other than green space would have required voters' approval, the paper reports.

"I'm sort of please," Emily Renzel told the Examiner. Renzel served as a council member from 1979 to 1991 and had urged, along with other former elected officials, the current council to reconsider the plan to build a recycling center on the property.

However, Renzel and others are somewhat confused by the council's decision, which in effect turns its back on years of planning for the city's future recycling program, the paper reports.

Palo Alto contracts its recycling services with Sunnyvale's SMART center, but the contract is set to expire in 2021. Some fear that garbage rates might escalate when the contract is renegotiated, according to the Examiner.

The Examiner reports that city council has asked staff to research alternatives to building the recycling center on baylands, and the Department of Public Works will look for an alternative that is more acceptable to the council and the public.