• Why Do We Recycle Tires?

    Until 19 years ago, countless illegally dumped tires polluted our state. Large piles of old tires sometimes even caught fire in the hot California sun. These tire fires put off toxic smoke containing cyanide and carbon monoxide. Because a fire can continue to burn deep inside a pile of tires after the top layer appears extinguished, firefighters struggled to put out these smoldering blazes that emitted thick, black plumes of toxic smoke and sometimes burned for months. Full story…
    (Posted by Syd Fong on Feb 18, 2020)

  • At a Glance: Recycling Matters

    Did you know: California’s population has climbed to nearly 40 million people, but our state sends less material to landfills now than it did in 1989. Full story…
    (Posted by Lance Klug on Feb 13, 2020)

  • Engaging Community to Achieve Environmental Justice

    Government employees know how to address environmental crises; but, unless we live in communities with contaminated drinking water, searing heat waves, and pollution-induced asthma attacks, we can never truly understand the lives shaped by environmental injustice. Lower-income populations experience greater pollution burdens because community members are often not involved in the government approval decision-making process of polluting facilities proposed for their neighborhoods. Full story…
    (Posted by Tom Steel on Feb 6, 2020)

  • Be the Change: Tina's Story

    CalRecycle's Tina Chambers is an Executive Assistant and combines her passion for the environment with her communication skills to protect California's public health. Check out this video for a glimpse into her job and what she enjoys about working at CalRecycle. Full story…
    (Posted by Syd Fong on Feb 3, 2020)

  • Why We Still Need to Recycle Bottles and Cans

    Since 1986 California has kept 400 billion plastic, glass, aluminum, and bi-metal containers out of our landfills and off our streets by recycling them. Despite our recent loss in the number of conveniently located recycling centers because of dips in the global aluminum scrap market, California still recycled around 18.5 billion beverage containers in 2019. By continuing our commitment to recycling, we can keep these materials from adding to pollution and our already growing landfills. Full story…
    (Posted by Heather Jones on Jan 27, 2020)

  • Recycling Matters More than Ever. Here's Why

    More. It’s one of baby’s first words and baby’s first wants. More milk. More food. More fun. More stuff. That primal pursuit of “more” typically grows with age. We buy. We collect. We throw away. In a state of nearly 40 million people this translates to a lot of waste. Californians send about 38 million tons of stuff to landfills each year. Full story…
    (Posted by Lance Klug on Jan 6, 2020)