NEW REPORT: Don’t Waste L.A. - Create Green Jobs and Clean Air Instead
Green For All stood firmly with local partner, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), at a City Hall press conference announcing the release of LAANE’s report, “Don’t Waste L.A.: A Path to Green Jobs, Clean Air and Recycling for All.” The report exposes the City’s inadequate recycling services for commercial and multifamily buildings that sends millions of tons of trash and waste to over crowded landfills and incinerators
Green For All stood firmly with local partner, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE), at a City Hall press conference announcing the release of LAANE’s report, “Don’t Waste L.A.: A Path to Green Jobs, Clean Air and Recycling for All.”
The report exposes the City’s inadequate recycling services for commercial and multifamily buildings that sends millions of tons of trash and waste to over crowded landfills and incinerators, and lays out smart and manageable policy recommendations to reform the City’s system. The recommendations aim to address the lack of recycling at thousands of businesses, large apartments complexes, hospitals and schools.
Key Findings:
- Businesses and large apartment complexes create nearly 70 percent, or 2.5 million tons, of the waste that the City sends to landfills each year.
- The current system lacks basic standards for recycling. Many Los Angeles business and large apartment tenants have no recycling services.
- Once waste is collected from businesses and large apartment complexes, the City has virtually no control over where it goes or how it is handled. If recycling sorting facilities do not adhere to high-quality standards, “recycled” materials
can end up in a landfill.
The City of Los Angeles has set an ambitious goal of becoming a zero waste city by 2030. To succeed in achieving this goal, reform of the dysfunctional and inefficient trash collection and processing system for commercial buildings and multifamily homes is not only critical, but necessary.
Green For All joins LAANE along with an alliance of 30 environmental, labor, faith and community groups to take on this challenge and advocate for a more efficient system, as well as for greater safety and training for waste collection workers. The Coalition recommends the City implement a competitive franchise system for waste and recycling in L.A.’s business and large apartments.
While we know that reform is never easy, we emphatically know that we must and can do better. We applaud LAANE for their leadership and will continue to stand in solidarity for cleaner air, economic prosperity, and good green jobs in recycling.
Download the Executive Summary (PDF)
Download the Full Report (PDF)
