|
Hitting high-tech trash [Glendale] Waste processing will have a permanent home in Glendale once the city completes its new environmentally conscious recycling and education center. The 17,500-square-foot facility is being built at 540 W. Chevy Chase Drive, next to the city's Integrated Waste Management Division yard. It will replace the facility at 800 Flower St. Operations were moved there in October 1997 to make room for a water-treatment plant. It must be moved again to make way for an interchange ramp connecting the Ventura (134) Freeway and San Fernando Road, according to a city report. The facility will include office space, a site for buying back recyclable material, and a 10,000-square-foot storage area. It also will feature an environmental education center showcasing energy and water conservation. "It's going to provide our drivers an easier [access] for the trucks to drop off material, and it's going to give our contractors the opportunity to have a larger area to process the materials and bring in some equipment that will ease the process of what they do," Public Works Director Steve Zurn said. "It will also allow us to expand a little bit on the types of material that we take in." The current facility takes in up to 17,000 tons in recyclables annually, including cardboard, newspaper, plastic, glass, aluminum and some types of metal, Zurn said. That total will grow as much as 15% with the new facility, which will also accept electrical waste such as televisions and computers, as well as more types of paper and scrap metal. The $1.5-million cost is being financed through public works capital improvement funds. The education center will be funded with $96,400 from the Public Benefit Program (Glendale Water & Power), which takes in state-mandated utility-bill charges to fund energy-efficiency and assistance programs. A six-kilowatt rooftop power system converting solar energy to electricity will be installed with a monitoring system and information displays to show how the energy is captured and stored. Two skylights for solar-room lighting and an upgraded air-conditioning system also will be added. Quality Paper Fibers Inc. runs the curbside recycling and material redemption program at the current center, and the new facility will improve its operations. "It's going to be easier for us because we'll have an enclosed facility, so we won't have to worry about our materials blowing around and our workers working in the sun," sales manager Jim Freeman said. "It will also be more efficient for those same reasons." The facility is scheduled to open in March, Zurn said.
 |
