Apartment recycling bill advancing

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Thursday, June 28, 2007 12:17 AM PDT ∞

Recycling would get a whole lot easier for people who live in apartments and condominiums under legislation headed for the state Senate floor.

Assembly Bill 548 by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Los Angeles, is headed for a final Senate vote today.

If it passes, the bill could run into trouble if it reaches Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk. He's vetoed similar legislation in the past.

The bill would require all apartment and condominium complexes in California with at least five housing units to provide recycling containers alongside trash Dumpsters.

The legislation has the support of environmental groups and Democrats. Republicans oppose the measure on the grounds it is an unnecessary intrusion by Sacramento into local decisions.

Levine said he believes a state mandate is necessary because fewer than 40 percent of the multifamily complexes in the state recycle voluntarily. Apartment and condominium complexes contain 2.4 million housing units and are home to 7.1 million Californians, he said.

"This is one of those things where there is a clear environmental benefit and where there is a clear societal benefit," Levine said by phone Tuesday from Sacramento.

Curbside recycling is widespread in single-family neighborhoods in San Diego and Riverside counties, as well as throughout California. As a result, Levine said, homeowners are in the habit of separating recyclable bottles, cans and paper from other garbage.

"Naturally, when you finish that 2-liter bottle of soda, you rinse it out and put it in the recycle bin," Levine said. "That opportunity should be presented to people who live in apartments."

As it is, the lack of recycling containers is a missed opportunity for apartment dwellers and the state, Levine said. He said people in multifamily dwellings generate 26 percent of California's waste.

If signed into law, the requirement would take effect July 1, 2008.

Not everyone thinks the bill is a good idea.

Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Murrieta, thinks an existing law that requires cities and counties to recycle half of their waste is all that's needed, said Jeffries spokesman Craig DeLuz in Sacramento.

"Assemblyman Jeffries is in favor of letting local governments determine how they meet these goals," DeLuz said.

On May 24, the Assembly approved the bill on a party-line, 46-to-31 vote.

A final Senate vote is set for Thursday. If approved, the bill will return to the Assembly to allow the two houses of the Legislature to work out differences in the bill, Levine said.

The bill could reach Schwarzenegger's desk by mid-July. A spokeswoman said the governor has taken no position.

Managers of an apartment complex in Poway said recycling has "worked out really well" at the complex, which started offering recycling on its own six months ago.

"One of our residents suggested that we do it," said Edward Dickensheet, site manager. "It makes it a little more convenient for people who can't afford homes and live in apartments."

The only problem is, when the trash bin is full, some people put their regular garbage in the recycling container and Dickensheet said he has to dig it out.

The legislation would have an impact, however, at the 32-unit Peppertree Apartments in Ramona, where there are no recycling containers.

"We don't have enough room," said Manager Maria Bueno.

But Bueno said the complex could make room if it had to. She also said such a change would eliminate a mess that often pops up as people dig through Dumpsters in search of bottles and cans, which are worth money at recycling centers.

Tuscany Ridge in Temecula, where 220 families live, has no recycling either.

"We'd figure it out," said Veronica Patterson, assistant manager, of the proposal. She said several residents have asked if the complex had a recycling container.

-- Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-5442 or ddowney@nctimes.com.

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