Today, I announced that we have reached our goal of mobilizing an additional 1 million Angelenos to practice recycling by providing recycling bins and routine pick up to apartment buildings with five or more units. Our multi-family recycling program, launched in 2007 to cater to apartment complexes, has a voluntary participation rate of 77%!
And we are not stopping there. We have approximately 140,000 more apartment units to register, a challenge LA is absolutely up for.
This is all part of our goal to reach zero waste. Working hard to ensure that recycling is accessible to all our residents, we've found that the community is eager to do their part and cut down on waste. Angelenos' enthusiastic embrace of our recycling efforts is one of the biggest reason why we'll be the cleanest, greenest big city in America.
For those apartments that have yet to sign up, it's as easy as dialing 3-1-1. A call to 3-1-1 will connect you to Citywide Recycling to deliver bins for free and pick them up on a regular schedule. You can also send an email to multifamily@lacity.org.It's really that easy. If you haven't signed up yet, now is a good time to participate given the increase in recyclables from purchases made during the holiday season.
Other City recycling efforts include assisting over 900 restaurants in sending their scraps to the City for composting, teaching recycling practices in our Public Schools, and collecting and taking half a million tons of garden debris from homes per-year and converting it to mulch.
By 2015, we estimate 50,000 tons of waste per year will be recycled due to these efforts. Los Angeles recycles more of our waste than any big city in America by diverting 65 percent of waste from our landfills, which amounts to 6.7 millions tons per year. New York, Chicago, Houston and San Diego are green with envy, but not as green as we're becoming!
We've come a long way, but I know we can go further. I've set our sights as a City on recycling SEVENTY percent of all City waste by 2013.
Please join me in meeting this ambitious goal, because what we generate, and how we dispose of our trash is a collective social responsibility. To find out more about the City's recycling programs, click here.
Follow Antonio Villaraigosa on Twitter: www.twitter.com/villaraigosa
