Last week, the Ecology Center began receiving shipments of carts, and the staging area has begun to fill up. Carts stacked 8 high are unloaded and grouped according to delivery route. Crews are working to load the right mix of split carts for single-family homes and standard carts for small apartment buildings.
Single Family homes and duplexes will receive a 64 gallon split cart with two compartments: one for cans and bottles and one for paper and cardboard. Small Apartment buildings (3-9 units) will receive two carts: A blue-top cart for cans and bottles, and a brown-top cart for paper and cardboard. Large apartment buildings are serviced by the City’s commercial collation crews and already have rolling carts. Check out our recycling guide for how to recycle in Berkeley.
These new carts will make recycling easier than ever and allow us to continue the high standards of recycling for which Berkeley is known. Berkeley’s 2005 Zero Waste goal called for reaching a 75% diversion rate by 2010 and with these new carts we may very well reach that goal! The carts begin delivery on 10/10/10 in alignment with the 10/10/10 day of Climate Action, as cart roll out was adopted as part of the City’s Climate Action Plan in 2009. It will take about a month for crews to deliver carts to every neighborhood, so expect to get yours no later than Thanksgiving.
