By Kimberly Cheng
KPSP Local 2 News
Palm Springs is considering making recycling mandatory. Every city in California is required to recycle at least 50% of its trash or it could fined up to $10000 dollars a day. The Coachella Valley as a whole exceeds state standards when it comes to recycling.
In 2007 78 million pounds of paper plastics and glass were taken to a recycling center in Palm Desert run by Burrtec Waste & Recycling Services.
Valley residents recycle 59% of their waste.
"We do very well" said Valerie Ward a spokesperson for Burrtec. "There will always be more for us to do. If we could get to 75% that would be awesome."
Terry Berreth who lives in Rancho Mirage says he's not sure why anyone wouldn't recycle. "I've lived in Rancho Mirage for 13 years and I see ordinary trash bins with everything in it" he said. "It's so simple."
"I think people don't care" said Margie Emmett a Palm Desert resident. "(They see the gray trash cans as) another trash can (to) put stuff in it. Gray is for recyclable. Red for trash. Green for your lawn."
"(Landfills) fill up and they have to close so eventually we're going to run out of room" said Ward. "(One) plastic bottle takes about 600 to 700 years to decompose. A glass bottle takes one million years."
