Calabasas expands recycling program
By Joann Groff joann@theacorn.com

SPECIAL DELIVERY- A Calabasas employee distributes a stack of recycling baskets to residents of area apartments and condominiums.

Calabasas apartment and condominium residents have gotten some unexpected visits from their city's staff this month.

Evening and Saturday employees of Calabasas have been traipsing around the city distributing blue recycling baskets to help residents of housing complexes get their bottles and cans to the appropriate parking lot garbage bin.

The baskets make it easier to sort items in the home and carry them to the right recycling receptacle.

Over the past few weeks, more than 1,100 apartments and condos have been visited and around 930 baskets distributed.

Alex Farassati, Calabasas' environmental services manager, said he was surprised that more than 50 residents turned down the baskets, although he still considers the project highly successful.

"Many residents are pleased with the new effort to reducereuse-recycle," Farassati said. "We have received a multitude of positive feedback."

Farassati said that instead of just leaving a flier, city workers wanted to hand-deliver the baskets so there was an opportunity for persontoperson interaction.

"People ask questions, as far as what they can put in the (bins) and what they should do with computers and other electronic waste," Farassati said. "Many people were already doing it (recycling) on their own, but I see a lot of people using these baskets, carrying them to the recycling bin."

After three visits, if the basket distributors don't catch a resident at home, a note is left advising them they can pick up their basket at city hall.

For more information, call the city of Calabasas at (818) 878-4225.