• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

City Council Explores Issues With Recycling

Posted on: Monday, 27 March 2006, 15:00 CST

By Munira Syeda Staff Writer, Desert Dispatch, Barstow, Calif.

Mar. 27--BARSTOW -- At a special meeting Wednesday, the City Council will discuss ways to improve its recycling program and how to implement new legislation dealing with waste diversion.

In the past year alone, the city has seen a significant increase in contamination of its recyclable material. The contamination rate jumped from 12 percent to 22.5 percent, said Belinda Barbour, city's project coordinator for solid waste.

Contamination occurs when people don't sort and put recyclable material in the appropriate bins. That causes the city to lose revenue, because it sells items such as used bottles and cans to pay for recycling. Barbour said the city experiences a financial gap of about $4,000 to $6,000 every month, which has to be funded from its coffers.

"If this trend continues, we may have to increase (customer) rates to cover that gap," Barbour said.

Additionally, at the meeting, the council will tackle how to divert treated wood waste from the landfill and ways to divert its sharp waste, or sharp objects such as needles and injections, which can't be dumped along with regular trash.

The special meeting will be held at 5 p.m. this Wednesday at Council Chamber, 220 E. Mountain View Street, Suite A.

In other government news:

-- The City Council at a special meeting today will vote on a resolution to submit the ballot question of the recall of Councilman Paul Luellig and election of another candidate if Luellig is recalled. The two candidates running against Luellig are Steven C. Curran and Manuel "Gil" Gurule. The meeting will be at 5 p.m. at Council Chamber, 220 E. Mountain View Street, Suite A.

-- Mayor Lawrence Dale and Councilwoman Gloria Darling have been invited to speak at a state Senate committee meeting on Tuesday. The governmental organization commit- tee, led by Chairman Dean Florez (D-Shafter), will hold an informational meeting on the compact between the state and Big Lagoon Rancheria. Dale said he will speak in favor of the casino project proposed by Big Lagoon and the Los Coyotes tribes. Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce President Tim Silva is also expected to speak at the meeting.

-- On Wednesday, the California Postsecondary Education Commission will examine the challenges facing community college districts in rural areas. Nearly half of the counties in the state are situated in remote or rural areas and suffer from insufficient transportation, a limited number of course selections and other struggles. The commission will seek comments from the public, as well as the California Community College Chancellor's Office, and district representatives. Later, an advisory committee will be established to take a closer look at the issues.

"The commission intends to listen and work with interested parties to help ensure that rural communities have greater access to quality college instruction and vocational training," said Executive Director Murray J. Haberman in a release.

-- A regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting for today has been canceled.

-----

Copyright (c) 2006, Desert Dispatch, Barstow, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Desert Dispatch (Barstow, Calif.)

More News in this Category