Keep America Beautiful, Inc. is teaming up with cities across the nation, including Santa Maria, on Nov. 15 to celebrate “America Recycles Day” to educate people about the need to reduce waste by reusing, recycling, and buying recycled products.
Santa Maria Utilities Department staffers will be at the Town Center Mall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., providing recycling information and handing out reusable shopping tote bags made from post consumer recycled material. The bags, which were made available through a grant from Cal Recycle, will be offered one per family to the first 500 customers.
According to a press release from the city, Americans generate nearly 230 million tons of municipal garbage per year. That’s more than 4.5 pounds of trash per person per day. The city is leading an effort to reduce these statistics. Last year, the city’s curbside recycling program diverted more than 9,000 tons of paper, bottles, cans, and cardboard. Since the introduction of the Recycling Park at the Santa Maria Regional Landfill in June of 2009, more than 60,000 tons of materials were recycled or reused, including wood, construction and demolition debris, green waste, concrete, metal, and textiles.
School Scene is compiled by Managing Editor Amy Asman. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, e-mail, or mail.
This article appears in Nov 11-18, 2010.