More than 150,000 daily visitors to the downtown area now have a place to recycle their bottles and cans.
The City of Sacramento, Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Midtown Business Association and the Sacramento Solid Waste Authority have implemented the first ever dedicated public recycling program downtown thanks to a Beverage Container Recycling Grant from CalRecycle.
More than 100 blue containers are now located with trash containers near the Golden 1 Center, State Capitol, City Hall, and beyond. The tamper proof containers will help reduce litter, scavenging, and keep our streets and sidewalks cleaner.
In California, about 21 billion California Refund Value (CRV) eligible containers are sold annually. Of those, only 18 billion get recycled. The remaining 3 billion end up in landfills or littered where they find their way into storm drains, creeks, and our rivers.
In a landfill it takes aluminum cans 80-100 years to break down, plastic bottles 700 years, and glass bottles 1 million years before they decompose.
The results of the program are already paying off. In the month of March, more than 7,000 pounds of recyclables were collected from the containers and the numbers continue to grow.
Thank you in advance for using the recycling containers and helping us keep Sacramento clean!