Recycle bins are coming your way

Trucks began crisscrossing southeast Huntington Beach on Monday, distributing the blue, green and brown containers that are the future of the city's waste disposal to roughly 500 families, officials at Rainbow Disposal Inc. said. It's a feat the company plans every day for six months, until the whole city has the new rolling containers.

Starting Monday, the first automated collection trucks in the city, powered by low-emission compressed natural gas, will roll through neighborhoods picking up trash and recyclables without their drivers ever stepping onto the pavement. Residents will be issued one container of each type by Rainbow Disposal. Additional recycling and green waste containers are free; extra trash cans cost a one-time fee. Huntington Beach is one of the last places in Southern California to adopt such a program, which has been standard practice for more than a decade in cities like Los Angeles.

Rainbow Disposal previously sorted recyclables out of all trash collected, but having residents separate it out ahead of time prevents materials from getting tainted by other waste.

The new trucks will bring down emissions in compliance with stringent new state rules, said Ron Shenkman, chairman of Rainbow Disposal. At the same time, separating out recycling and yard waste puts the city on track to follow state mandates for putting less into landfills. Ultimately, he said, the state is aiming for a policy of zero waste into landfills, something this program puts the city a step closer to achieving.

"There are a lot of compliance issues, and the city is counting on us to do the right thing," he said. "This is a major environmental benefit for the citizens, a major environmental benefit for everybody."

Since the City Council approved the plan last year, officials have moved into an information-giving role, said city spokeswoman Laurie Payne. The city has mailed out literature to residents explaining new rules, such as which plastics are allowed in the blue recycling cans.

"Our main concern is that the program gets implemented so people understand what's going on and how to adapt," he said.

The company is spending several million dollars on the upgrades, Shenkman said.

In addition to satisfying future regulations for the city, he said the change would have benefits for citizens and for his own business, from greater ease in hiring trash collectors to cleaner air.

"I went around to some of the neighborhoods today to watch carts get delivered," he said. "A guy asked me, 'How much extra is this going to cost us?' I said, 'Nothing.'

For more information, go to www.rainbowdisposal.com.

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