Earth Day Haul in Del Norte County Includes 2,500-plus Pounds of Trash
One of several volunteer crews who participated in the Earth Day cleanup. Photo courtesy of TUPP.
Volunteers removed more than 2,500 pounds of trash, including more than 200 tobacco-related items, from Del Norte County to commemorate Earth Day.
From a Smith River Alliance news release:
Celebrate Earth Day by getting your exercise picking up trash? Over 25 community volunteers did just that during the week of April 22 and through their efforts more than 2500 pounds of trash was removed from multiple public access, beach, and park locations around Del Norte.
The Earth Day cleanup was organized by the Tobacco Use Prevention Program (TUPP) and the Smith River Alliance with help from the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority and Elk Valley Casino. Other partners included California State Parks, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Tobacco Free Del Norte, and the Redwood Parks Conservancy.
Recology Makes Case for Rate Increase at Town-Hall; Meeting Drew One Comment
Though most Recology Del Norte customers could see their rates increase by about 5 percent in July, a town hall meeting allowing them to protest the potential change Tuesday drew a single comment.
Stringent regulations and changes in the recycling market, both locally and globally, are forcing Recology Del Norte to change its rates, according to General Manager Jeremy Herber.
But Donna Westfall, former Crescent City councilwoman and president of the Del Norte Taxpayers Association, said wages should be frozen and salaries cut before rate increases are approved. She didn’t specify if those wage freezes and cuts should apply to Recology employees or staff at the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority.
Del Norte Mission Possible Adds Cemetery Area to Winter Shelter-in-Place Rounds
The red x is the access road Del Norte Mission Possible will set up its Winter Shelter-in-Place table on Thursdays. Courtesy of Crescent City.
Councilors will allow Daphne Lambert to bring Del Norte Mission Possible’s Winter Shelter-in-Place program to the green space near the Crescent City cemetery.
They hope the program will help clean up one of the community’s primary concentration of homeless encampments, allaying property owners’ complaints about trespassing, illegal dumping and stream diversions.
Lambert says her program helps empower the unhoused to keep their camps clean in exchange for necessities like tarps, hand warmers and socks, food and candles. She also connects them with support services for those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Homeless individuals living in Del Norte County are collecting thousands of pounds of trash each month and trading it in for survival gear.
The winter shelter-in-place project through the nonprofit dedicated to homeless outreach, Mission Possible, provides garbage bags to homeless individuals, who then can fill those garbage bags with trash they find and trade them in for food, clean clothes and other essential items. If they turn in trash for four consecutive weeks, they receive some neat survival gear, including a pocket-sized tent and a hand-warming phone charger. Last week, homeless individuals turned in 1,960 pounds of garbage, said Daphne Cortese-Lambert, founder and executive director of Mission Possible.
Jessica Cejnar / Wednesday, March 17 @ 12:30 p.m. / Local Government
5 Percent Rate Increase Proposed for Most Recology Del Norte Customers; Town Hall Meeting Set to Discuss Changes
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Most Recology Del Norte customers could see their rates increase by about 5 percent starting July 1 pending approval from the Del Norte Solid Waste Management Authority.
The new rate structure will also require customers to pay roughly $5 extra for a recycling bin that’s larger than their garbage bin, according to DNSWMA Director Tedd Ward.
“It used to be that if you signed up for the current service and you were a residential customer, you got a 30 gallon trash cart and you could get up to a 90 gallon recycling cart for no additional charge,” Ward told the DNSWMA Board of Directors on Tuesday. “Because recycling is costly and because some customers were using it for additional trash, we remove the incentive by charging for the e