Athens Services has reached a major milestone by meeting targets set by the City of Los Angeles to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. The Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment Department (LASAN) reported the results in its 2020 recycLA Progress report. Under recycLA, the city’s waste and recycling program aims to achieve “zero waste” through pioneering waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery programs. According to the recycLA Progress report, Athens reduced its landfill tonnage in 2020 compared to 2019. Results for 2021 aren’t available yet.
Athens Zero Waste Manager Alexander Han credits the company’s recycling success in Los Angeles to outreach teams personally visiting businesses and multifamily housing units onsite to train customers in recycling. “We have a solid team that knows how to talk and engage with people onsite, one-on-one,” Han said. “We are there in partnership with our customers to help them be successful.”
Athens’ recycLA outreach program consists of a four-step approach called SITE:
- Signage identifying the right material for recycling
- Internal containers for recycling – blue for plastics, cardboard, and other recyclables, and now green for food waste
and other organic material to meet California’s new SB 1383 requirements
- Training employees at businesses and tenants at multifamily residences, and
- Events including tabling and other outreach in the community.
“I’m really proud of our outreach team, their dedication to quality work, and the ownership they have taken to change behavior one customer at a time,” Han said. “They’re not just checking the box.”
Han also pointed to recent company investments in recycling and composting facilities featuring new technology to sort material and reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfills. The recycLA program serves more than 65,000 customers in Los Angeles. Athens is the largest service provider with more than 21,000 customers.