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Palo Alto Program Dumps Garbage Pickup In Favor Of Recycling

PALO ALTO (CBS 5) - A new pilot program in Palo Alto calls for the elimination of black garbage bins in favor of a two can system for compost and recyclables.

The program, which was approved by the City Council and will begin in April, eliminates the black can and requires residents to sort everything else into the green compostable bin or the blue recycling can.

"We're trying to head toward zero waste," said Phil Bobol, Assistant Public Works Director. "We're going to, on a pilot basis, have residents bag their kitchen scraps and put them in with the yard trimmings in their green." Everything else will go in the blue cart.

The two primary goals of the program are to recover more reusable resources and to save money by reducing the number of garbage collections. About 700 households will be involved in the pilot program, which will last one year before being re-evaluated.

City officials say an estimated 6,000 tons of food scraps from Palo Alto end up in landfills each year.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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