West Hollywood : City Nods to Recycled Items

Recycled paper will supply 10% of the city’s paper needs by mid-1990, if a goal set by the City Council is met. Council members adopted a policy of preference for recycled and reusable goods, authorizing city staff to pay up to 5% more than it is now paying for such products.

“We’re protecting the atmosphere and fighting the greenhouse effect,” Councilman John Heilman said at Monday’s council meeting.

Throughout the meeting, council members sipped water from bright blue plastic-coated paper cups. (According to Mary Tyson, the city clerk, all cups ordered through the city’s purchasing department are nontoxic and biodegradable. The plastic cups, she said, were bought by an employee at a supermarket to match the blue cloth and thermos bottles on the speakers’ table.)

Interviewed after the meeting about City Hall’s overall recycling practices, Heilman’s deputy, Nancy Greenstein, said: “We’ve been recycling for about a year and a half, and we’re doing real well. All city buildings have bins for newspaper, white and computer paper, bottles and plastic soda jars and cans. In the past year, she said, City Hall, an elementary school, a senior center and an office of the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department had designated nearly 40 tons of discarded items for recycling.

Greenstein was enthusiastic about prospects for purchasing recycled paper. “We’ve been looking at buying it for a long time, but it was too expensive. Now the prices have come down, and the differential is not that great. And we’ll be talking to other cities, such as Santa Monica, about making joint purchases to be really cost-effective.”