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Eureka –The California Department of
Conservation today pledged an additional
$5,000 to support local recycling
promotion in recognition of Humboldt
County’s leadership role and innovative
beverage container recycling programs.
During a brief
ceremony recognizing local recycling
efforts, Director Darryl Young and
department staff gathered at the Manila
Dunes Community Center, 1611 Peninsula
Drive, in Manila for a “family portrait”
with North Coast recyclers who had
received funding from the department
previously.
“The cities and towns
of Humboldt County continue to set an
example for other regions looking to
improve beverage container recycling
rates,” said Young. “We want to
recognize those efforts by supporting
recycling promotion efforts.”
California’s beverage
container recycling rate declined in
2000 to 61 percent as more than six
billion containers were thrown away
instead of recycled. In response, the
department launched a statewide campaign
to motivate Californians to recycle
more.
The statewide
campaign provides materials and support
for local programs interested in helping
increase bottle and can recycling rates.
The department also
offers a city and county payment
program, funded through the California
Beverage Container Recycling and Litter
Reduction Act, that provides money to
eligible cities and counties for
beverage container recycling and litter
cleanup activities. In 2001, the
department awarded Humboldt County
almost $25,000 for local recycling
programs. The cities of Arcata, Blue
Lake, Fortuna, Rio Dell and Trinidad
each received $5,000 grants.
This year, Humboldt
County’s grant funding provides support
to a wide range of programs and
services. These programs include
recycling collections, public education
projects, beverage container litter
clean-up and “buy recycled” activities.
Statewide, the
trashed aluminum, glass and plastic in
2000 represents an estimated $158
million in unredeemed California Refund
Value (CRV) deposits. Laid end-to-end,
the unrecycled beverage containers would
circle the earth nearly seven times.
The average recycling
rate during the 1990s was 77 percent.
The addition of new CRV containers –
many of them plastic, which historically
has been recycled at lower rates than
aluminum – is cited by the Department as
one reason for the decline.
The pro-recycling
marketing campaign – which utilizes
television, print and radio
advertisements, as well as billboards
and an Internet site (www.bottlesandcans.com)
– is designed to motivate Californians
to recycle more.
The theme for the
campaign is “Recycle. It’s good for the
bottle. It’s good for the can.”
California is one of
10 states with a beverage
container-recycling program. The
Department of Conservation administers
the California Beverage Container
Recycling and Litter Reduction Act,
which became law in 1986. The primary
goal of the act is to achieve and
maintain high recycling rates for each
beverage container type included in the
program.
Consumers pay CRV
(California Refund Value) when they
purchase beverages from a retailer. The
deposits are refunded when empty
containers are redeemed through local
recycling centers. More information on
the state's beverage container recycling
program is available at
www.bottlesandcans.com, or by
calling 1-800-RECYCLE.
In addition to
promotion of the state's beverage
container recycling program, the
Department of Conservation administers
programs to safeguard agricultural and
open-space land; regulates oil, gas and
geothermal wells in the state; studies
and maps earthquakes, landslides and
mineral resources; and ensures
reclamation of land used for mining.
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