Effective July 1, recycling and composting will be mandatory for all businesses, institutions and multi-family homes in Alameda County, according to the Mandatory Recycling Ordinance and the Plant Debris Landfill Ordinance.
Recyclable material includes paper products, glass bottles and jars; aluminum and metal; and plastics with recycling labels one through seven. Compostable materials, which must be placed in the green organics bin, include food scraps, food-soiled paper and yard trimmings.
The Alameda County Source Reduction and Recycling Board is seeking to fill an Environmental Educator vacancy. The appointee must live in Alameda County. The appointment is for two years, and board members are eligible for re-appointment to one additional two-year term.
The Recycling Board administers the voter-approved Waste Reduction and Recycling Initiative, which levies an $8.23 per ton landfill disposal fee that generates approximately $8 million per year for waste reduction and recycling programs in Alameda County.
When Alameda resident Susan Freeman visits a local grocery store and notices a shopper reaching for a plastic bag, she offers them one of her homemade cotton produce bags. Freeman intends to help Alameda become a “city without plastic bags.”
“I make them and I give them away,” Freeman said. She carries the 13x10-inch bags in a larger shopping bag in order to conveniently share them with fellow shoppers.