L.A.'s Bureau of Sanitation holds Recycle Fair

Listen to the full audio story

Download the MP3

In honor of Earth day tomorrow, the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation hosted a fair to promote recycling and reducing waste. The fair took place in conjunction with a farmers market where there was fresh produce, kettle corn, and a live band. It was a day of fun on the lawn of city hall, but with a greater goal in mind... to make L.A. a greener city.

"And we are reaching out to employees in the civic center area to talk to them about zero waste and also to people who live in the area and to children and so forth," said Jackie David, Board of Sanitation

She tells us, it's easy to make a difference. "We can take baby steps and small steps. Number one is you recycle obviously and when you do it, it's important to recycle correctly, know what goes in your recycling bin," stated David.

For busy parents in apartment buildings, the city has a multi- family recycling program, that is free of charge.

"And we don't require anyone to take the bin to the curb. Our drivers will go on to the property, take them to the street, service them and bring them back," said a rep for the program.

If that wasn't easy enough, recycle bank, a private company that works with the city, will reward you if you recycle.

"You can go reclyclebank.com and register your account and start earning points. Points get you all kinds of things from discounts to coupons from local business like Rubys Diner, Gelsons Market, umm so there is all kinds of reward categories online," said Lara Beers, Sales Director for Recycle Bank.

Even recycling every day items makes a huge impact. Rich Archer, the rep for pilot pen, says one recycled water bottle can make two reusable pens."Six billion pens, six with B, billion go into a land fill every year. You basically can take 2 rose bowls and stack them on top of each other and fill them with pens. That's how much plastic," informa Archer.

Los Angeles locals took home more than easy recycling tips. They also got free totes to use when grocery shopping, just one small step organizers say can move the city toward a zero waste goal.