Potential locations of a planned Recycling Facility for Santa Clarita was at the center of discussion by the Ad Hoc Recycling Facility Citizen Site Selection Committee. The group met at City Hall on October 28 to discuss the site selection for the Facility, which will sort through all of our area’s garbage, pulling out everything that can be recycled. The project’s goal is to help Santa Clarita meet state mandated recycling benchmarks.

The City created the Selection Committee to involve community members in the process.

Members of City staff, City officials and representatives from Burrtec Waste Industries met with Committee members to discuss local policies and procedures relating to the creation of a Santa Clarita recycling facility. Topics discussed included the City’s Solid Waste Ordinance, diversion programs and solid waste and recycling statistics, as well as relevant environmental legislation, terminology and residential and commercial franchise agreements.

“The October 28, 2009 Selection Site Committee meeting was held to begin the process of bringing on line our City’s first Recycling Facility,” said Councilmember Laurene Weste. “The meeting accomplished the first step of the site selection process, which involves fully informing the Committee about policies, procedures, legislation relevant to implementing a state-of-the-art recycling facility in Santa Clarita.”

In addition to reviewing existing landfills and area maps of the Santa Clarita Valley, as well as regional recycling facilities, committee members heard a presentation from Burrtec Waste Industries regarding the components and operation of their proposed recycling facility. The Los Angeles County Sanitation District also gave a video presentation regarding their Waste-by-Rail program.

The topic of site location can be contentious; earlier locations drew heavy ire from surrounding neighborhood members. Some cited the facility’s potential noise pollution and truck traffic and didn’t want it located off Sierra Highway near Golden Valley Rd. The new site selection committee will seek to identify locations that do not anger residents, yet still make sense in terms of effectiveness.