GLENDALE RESIDENTS WILL GET NEW BINS FOR CURBSIDE PICKUP; CONTAINERS MEANT FOR YARD WASTE, RECYCLABLES.

Byline: Mary Lou Aurelio Daily News Staff Writer

The city will begin to distribute 100-gallon containers for yard waste and recyclables to homeowners next month in an effort to meet the state mandate of reducing trash sent to landfills by 50 percent by Jan 1.

The city is now at 43 percent reduction compared with its 1989 baseline and will meet the requirement, Bob Weger, Glendale integrated waste administrator, said Wednesday.

``We feel confident that we'll be there,'' he said, adding that the penalties of not meeting the 50 percent reduction by 2000 are prohibitive. ``There could be a fine of $10,000 a day, so it's an incentive.''

``Owning our own landfill, there's an incentive for us to extend the life of it anyway,'' Weger said of the Scholl Canyon Landfill off the Foothill Freeway on Figueroa Street.

He said the collection of yard waste and a transition to automated collection trucks by September will help. The bins will also be given to apartment buildings with four or fewer units.

The city will be doubling its current fleet of eight trucks with automated equipment that picks the trash bins up from the curb. Half of the city homeowners will receive a green bin for yard waste and a gray one for recyclables in May, and the other half will receive them in September.

The automated trucks enable the city to collect the larger bins, which don't require separating recyclable material such as bottles, cans and newspapers. They have been shown to increase recycling participation because residents find them easier and their lids discourage scavengers.

In addition, pickup will increase to once a week. Residents have been putting a 30-gallon recycling bin of glass and cans at their curb for trash collectors to pick up by hand. Cardboard and junk mail can be added to the larger gray bins, Weger said.

``Automation increases the participation, and with the larger container it makes it a lot easier for residents,'' Weger said. ``Now, all the newspapers and glass, and magazines and junk mail and cereal boxes can all go in one container.''

In 1989, Glendale generated 345,254 tons of waste. In 1998, the city disposed of 193,304 tons and is expected to get down to about 170,000 tons next year, Tom Brady, senior integrated waste planner, said.

Eric Lamoureux, spokesman for the state Integrated Waste Management Board, said Glendale has, so far, been above average in complying with state regulations.

In 1995, when the state called for cities to be at 25 percent reduction, Glendale was at 32 percent, and there was a 35 percent reduction in 1996, Lamoureux said. The statewide averages for those years were 28 and 31 percent, respectively.

The state has not yet completed its review for 1997 and 1998, Lamoureux said.

Burbank also has a city-owned landfill and a fully automated collection service. It is already at compliance for 2000 with a 58.8 percent landfill reduction rate, said Sylvia Glazier, city Street and Sanitation manager.

``We're already way ahead of it,'' Glazier said. ``We have excellent programs in the city and great compliance from citizens and businesses.''