Berkeley forced to build a recycling campaign

Sending material to the landfills year after year has become a kind of American ritual or national practice of dubious worth and despicable environmental unfriendliness. This is why people have now started becoming more careful about being responsible in the way they use and throw stuff, with the emphasis on recycling having been stepped up significantly. In Berkeley, California for instance, overflowing recycle bins as well as downsized trash cans are a glowing testimony to the success of recycling programs which are made possible by the active and unstinted cooperation and participation of local residents. It is as if the citizens of Berkeley have taken up cudgels in favor of recycling and are quite determined to ensure that recycling in their city becomes an unstinted success.
On the other hand, the city has had to bear some costs in terms of lower refuse revenue to the extent of $ million annually, which has added to the $10 million deficit of Berkeley in the year 2010. The problems is that people have started buying less, which means they have less packaging to dump which has led to lower revenues due to dumping of refusal that has gone down. The city now charges only for trash, even as there has been a fall in construction debris.
The mayor of Berkeley, Tom Bates had gone public last August saying that ‘recycling is his religion’ and the people have seen him starting many green programs and initiatives. These are aimed at reducing the city’s greenhouse emissions by as much as a whopping 80% by 2050. Since, then Berkeley has gained the reputation of being one of the most sustainable cities in the US.
These efforts by the mayor have put a spanner in the works of the cash for trash program of the city which is causing the public works department to contemplate rate hike and cuts in some other programs.