CITY OKS RECYCLING PROGRAM GROWTH.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer

Starting next summer, Los Angeles apartment dwellers will have the opportunity to sort paper, plastic and glass recyclables at home under a plan finalized Tuesday by the City Council.

Recycling pickup for multifamily buildings will initially be voluntary, but Bureau of Sanitation officials gave trash haulers a warning: If the city doesn't get enough participation after seven years, it could become mandatory.

``This is a very good proposal for (the) city of Los Angeles to take the next giant leap in recycling,'' said Councilman Greig Smith, whose RENEW LA plan outlines a 20-year blueprint to handle the city's trash.

Multifamily buildings generate 550,000 tons of waste per year, about 10 percent of the city's total.

The Bureau of Sanitation will solicit bids from trash companies to pick up recyclables at apartments and condominiums, and will finalize contracts in about a year.

The city will place blue recycling bins at participating buildings. Collection should start by mid-2007 and be implemented citywide a year later, said Neil Guglielmo of the Bureau of Sanitation.

``We're trying to make it as convenient as possible,'' he said.

The city tested free recycling at apartments beginning in 2004, and signed up 64,000 units. Some buildings in the program are recycling up to 40 percent.

Approximately 750,000 single-family homes and and small apartment complexes now have curbside recycling provided by the city's Bureau of Sanitation.

Roughly 540,000 apartment units and condos hire private haulers and rarely pay the extra money for recycling services.

Officials estimate that the program will cost the city $6 million to $10 million, depending on the hauler bids and the number of units signed up for the service. The funding will come from permit fees paid by private waste haulers operating in the city.

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