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SAN JOSE ONE OF COUNTRY'S BEST RECYCLERS

Release Date: 12/16/1999
Contact Information: Leo Kay, U.S. EPA, (415)744-2201

     SAN FRANCISCO   The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently released a study that lists the city of San Jose as one of 18 communities nationwide with record-setting residential or municipal solid waste reduction levels.

     In 1997, the city diverted 45 percent of its residential waste 196,000 pounds -- using a combination of recycling and composting, up from 33 percent in 1993.
   
     "San Jose has emerged as a national leader in demonstrating how communities can greatly reduce the amount of trash sent to the local landfill without sacrificing their operating budgets," said Felicia Marcus, regional administrator of the EPA's San Francisco office.  "We applaud the city's use of a number of tools to cuts its overall waste stream in half."

    In addition to taking such traditional materials such as paper, glass, aluminum and lawn clippings, San Jose's residential curbside pickup program also takes scrap metal and used motor oil.  A "pay-as-you-throw" program allows households to discard appliances and furniture with its weekly recycling pickup for $18 for three items.  The city also uses financial incentives, public education and technical assistance to encourage recycling by business and indsutry.

     The listing was published in an EPA report issued in November entitled "Cutting the Waste Stream in Half: Community Record-Setters Show How."  To receive a copy of the document, call 1(800)424-9346.

     Visalia was the only other California municipality on the list.