September 12, 2007

From the Mayor’s Desk

The Environment: Recycling, Global Warming, Litter Reduction

By Mayor Dan Furtado
Special to the Times

Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in an exchange between the US Conference of Mayors and the Japan Association of city Mayors on the subject of recycling, reuse, and decreased waste to our landfills. We also explored aspects of global warming. Specifically, I was asked to speak on our public education campaign for recycling. I decided to focus on the State of California as a whole. My job was made much easier because California is very forward thinking, and, over the last several years, the state has passed a significant amount of legislation to promote recycling.

California laws dealing with proper waste disposal includes the following:

1986 (AB 2020) Provided for recycling of beverage containers.

1989 (AB 939) Mandated that each city & county develop a Source Reduction and Recycling Element to require 50% diversion of its solid waste stream from disposal to reduction, reuse, recycling, composting, transformation, & finally land filling by Jan 1, 2000.

A household hazardous waste component was also required by AB 939.

2003 (SB 20) Required that electronic waste be properly disposed of, away from and not included in landfills, making CA the only state to require CRT recycling.

2004 (AB 2901) Requires recycling or reuse of cell phones.

2006 (AB 1125) Calls for recycling of rechargeable batteries & requires retailers to take back rechargeable batteries.

2006 (AB 32) Establishes the nation’s first statewide limit on greenhouse gas emissions, reducing emissions in California to 1990 levels by 2020.

I was also impressed about how seriously Japan addresses recycling and re-use. They have extensive programs in the country, and, of course, global warming is a significant matter of concern to residents of Japan. It was clear from our discussions that of all the states in our country, California is acknowledged as being far ahead of the other 49 states with our legislation and concern for the environment.

Recently, I volunteered to be a part of a committee to address litter in Santa Clara County. Over the next several weeks and months, I will focus on this issue, as well as my concern for our environment. If you have ideas or comments, I welcome your input.