By City Manager Ken Striplin
Santa Clarita is a community filled with residents who protect our beautiful City every day. Thanks to the hard work of our community members, we have made tremendous progress in protecting our environment.
In addition to the 80 local businesses that are subscribed to the City’s food-waste recycling program, and multiple other businesses donating edible food to local charities, our residents continue to dispose of their special waste properly at Household Hazardous Waste and E-waste Round-Ups and battery drop-off locations.
Even with all these valuable programs, we can still learn how to be more effective and efficient recyclers. The foundation of an environmentally friendly community is proper waste disposal; without our residents recycling right, local waste haulers are faced with hours of unnecessary work and high costs.
That’s why the City is excited to announce a new campaign that teaches residents and businesses that anyone can do recycling right. The Recycle Heroes are assembling to protect their community. Join them in their efforts to combat myths and encourage the right ways to recycle. Whether you are a student, parent or professional — anyone can be a Recycle Hero!
Different types of waste including cardboard, paper, tin and aluminum cans, glass and numerous types of plastic containers are just a few of the basic items that can be recycled. The items are taken to the Materials Recovery Facility — or MRF, where a combination of machines and diligent workers sort through each item, which are then baled and repurposed by packaging manufacturers and paper mills. Unrecyclable items, including plastic bags, garden hoses and toys, are often mistakenly placed in recycling bins. When these types of items make their way into the recycling bin, additional labor and costs are required to place these items back on trucks for proper disposal. Residents and businesses can avoid confusion by researching which items belong in the recycle bin. Lists of recyclable items can often be found in your waste hauler’s newsletters and also on GreenSantaClarita.com.
We are fortunate to live in a City where protecting the environment is the norm. We have done a great job with recycling construction and demolition debris. More than 106,000 tons produced in Santa Clarita have been recycled to date. Our residents come out by the thousands every fall to help clean up the Santa Clara River at our annual River Rally event. Now is the time to make the commitment to recycle right and make the most of reusable materials. You too can be a Recycle Hero and set a positive example for our community. Residents and businesses can become involved in the City’s recycling efforts by merely adjusting their everyday routine. GreenSantaClarita.com is a great place to start. There you can find multiple resources including tips that will strengthen your understanding of what belongs in the recycle bin.
Be on the lookout for our Recycle Heroes as more faces of this exciting campaign will soon be revealed. Use the hashtag #RecycleHeroSC and show your community how you recycle right for a chance to be featured in this exciting new campaign. For more information about the City’s efforts to preserve the environment, please visit GreenSantaClarita.com.
Ken Striplin can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in his column are those of the City and do not necessarily reflect those of The Signal.
