Los Angeles urged to formalise recycling

City officials in Los Angeles have been urged by the US Construction Materials Recycling Association (CMRA) to adopt a city ordinance that would lay down a requirement that all of its departments to recycle at least 50% of their construction and demolition waste.

The CMRA has also recommended that city authorities should enact a second city ordinance that would require the same level of recycling during private construction and demolition work.

CMRA president James Taylor believes that the greater Los Angeles area and most of southern California have the recycling infrastructure to handle the volume of waste that would result if the two ordinances were applied. In a statement, he said: “These types of ordinance are something we have seen all over the country. For example, in Chicago the requirement is now 25% recycling on all construction and demolition projects, which will grow to 50% later in 2007.”