The Big Bear City Community Services District (CSD) will begin rolling out new recycling carts for households this month as it officially launches its expanded curbside recycling collection service.
With this new recycling program, all households within the district will receive a new, larger recycling container. The 64-gallon carts will be delivered to residents’ homes throughout the month of October. The carts will replace the smaller bins currently used for residential recycling and come with wheels for easy maneuvering and attached lids to keep recyclables dry and secure.
The Big Bear City CSD applied for and received a grant from The Recycling Partnership, a nonprofit action agent transforming the U.S. residential recycling system for good. Big Bear City CSD was selected to receive grant support because of its dedication to advancing recycling in the community. The $242,000 grant from The Recycling Partnership helped pay for approximately 12,000 new carts and includes funding for customer education and outreach about the new collection process.
On the heels of its West Coast Contamination Initiative, The Recycling Partnership is catalyzing system improvements by meeting communities where they are – whether it’s preventing recycling facility fires in Chula Vista, delivering recycling carts to Culver City, or increasing convenient access to recycling in Big Bear City.
“The Recycling Partnership is proud to partner with Big Bear City CSD to expand recycling access to the district’s 12,000 households,” said Chris Coady, Director of Community Programs at The Recycling Partnership. “We are grateful to American Beverage’s Every Bottle Back initiative and the Burt’s Bees Full-Circle Future initiative for their support of this recycling transformation that will keep valuable recyclables out of our environment and waterways and put them back into the circular economy to provide much needed supply for local producers.”
With the delivery of new recycling carts to all City CSD residents, The Recycling Partnership estimates the capture of 3.3 million pounds of quality recyclables that can then be transformed into new products and packaging.
“The goal of California’s beverage companies is to build an efficient closed loop recycling system,” said Rick Rivas, vice president of California affairs at the American Beverage Association. “Through Every Bottle Back, we’re increasing the amount of bottles collected which allows us to use more recycled content and preserve the environment for generations to come.”
“Burt’s Bees is proud to join forces with The Recycling Partnership to fund recycling infrastructure improvements. For all of us to succeed in keeping more materials in the loop and out of the environment, we need more communities like Big Bear City that are committed to supporting healthy recycling systems for their residents,” stated Matt Kopac, Associate Director of Sustainability at Burt’s Bees.
Big Bear City CSD asks that residents continue to do their part by placing only recyclable materials in their carts, including glass bottles and jars, aluminum and steel cans, food and beverage cartons, paper products (including newspapers and flattened cardboard), and empty plastic bottles and containers. To help limit trash in the recycling, only place empty and dry items accepted for recycling into the recycling cart – loose and not in bags.
Some items that cannot be recycled include foam blocks or to-go containers, plastic bags, paper towels, pizza boxes, electrical equipment, batteries, and clothing. These items often get mixed into recycling carts because of “wishcycling,” or the hope that they can be recycled. While well-intentioned, non-recyclable items cause serious issues, including damage to recycling facilities and injury to recycling workers.
For more information on what can and can’t go into the cart, visit www.bbccsd.org/recycle .
Residents can begin using their new carts immediately, and place them out for service the same day as their regular trash collection.
For a copy of the holiday collection schedule, plus answers to other Frequently Asked Questions, visit www.bbccsd.org or call 909-585-2565 between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.