Making it easier for Californians to recycle is the best way to increase the number of bottles and cans we divert from landfills - adopting cumbersome regulations is not. Efforts such as the state's Comprehensive Recycling Community program should spread, while proposals to impose fines on residents who don't accurately separate recyclables belong in the nearest trash bin.
The state Department of Conservation recently chose Riverside to participate in the recycling community effort for the next 18 to 24 months. Under the program, officials place more recycling containers throughout participating cities and at public events, and the state pays for billboards and radio ads reminding residents to recycle. ...
Californians already recycle 14.7 billion of the 21.9 billion drink containers purchased in the state each year - or 67 percent. State officials want to increase that number to 80 percent, noting that aluminum cans take up to 100 years to decompose; plastic bottles take 700 years. Providing encouragement and opportunities for Californians to recycle is the right way to reach that goal.
Compare that approach to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's proposal to fine residents who don't accurately sort their recyclables up to $1,000 and cut off their trash pickup. Making sure paper towels are separated from newspapers might make it easier on recycling plants, but it adds an extra step to the process for homeowners. Punishing them for making mistakes while trying to cut landfill waste is counterintuitive.
Riverside Public Works Manager Cindie Doke got it right when she said, "People want to do it, but you have to make it easy or they aren't going to do it." If government wants Californians to embrace more stringent recycling targets, it needs to make recycling an appealing choice, not a punitive mandate. Riverside's partnership with the state takes the right tack.
This editorial first appeared in the Riverside Press-Enterprise on Sunday.
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