CHANGE THE RATE STRUCTURE FOR COMMERCIAL BUSINESSES
One of the ways to increase the recycling tonnage from commercial businesses is to incentive recycling. The cost for trash service needs to be high enough to encourage commercial businesses to look for ways to reduce their cost. The cost for recycling service needs to be low enough to encourage customers to reevaluate their way of disposing of their waste. Commercial customers need to have the same type of set up like they have at home. There needs to be a recycling can next to every trashcan inside commercial businesses.

BFI’S RECYCLING FACILITY
BFI has been working on a recycling facility for the past few months. We have started slow and small and have seen good consistent growth. We are currently processing close to 120 tons a month. We have been working through a few learning curves to try to be as efficient as possible. We believe this is a great effort on our part to try and divert as much waste from the landfill.

OOPS TAGS FOR RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS
BFI has developed a customer friendly OOPS tag for residential customers. This tag will 1) inform the customer of recyclables being thrown in with the trash 2) inform the customer of green waste being thrown in with the trash 3) inform city residential customers of what recycling services are available to them.

“WHAT ABOUT RECYCLING?”
We have implemented a “what about recycling” campaign with our customer service representatives. When a customer calls inquiring about anything, we always inquire about what they are doing about recycling at home or at work. This is a way we can inform them on the different recycling services we provide for them and try and advise them to maximize their recycling volume.

CITY AND COUNTY RECYCLING PROGRAMS ENHANCED
BFI is currently working to enhance the City and County recycling programs. We have been working with Dana Green from the County and Steve MacIntsoh from the City. Our goal is to implement recycling programs to County or City owned facilities that do not have them and enhance the recycling programs to maximize the amount of diversion from the landfill. The City and the County are our two biggest customers and we want to make sure that they have the necessary recycling programs in place for their facilities.

BFI SANTA BARBARA CITY SCHOOL CHILD DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
BFI recycling coordinator, Thor Schmidt, visited all of the different public elementary schools in the City of Santa Barbara School District. We will continue to give presentations to schools upon request. This program consists of after school presentations with a video, question and answer period, and a quiz. The kids would then be given informational pamphlets on recycling to take home to their parents. A recyclable pencil is given to each student as a gesture of thanks and appreciation for their time.

BFI TRADE SHOWS
BFI tries to participate in as many tradeshows as possible each year. We try to promote the different services we provide to our customers. We emphasize and promote commercial recycling by handing out informational pamphlets on how people and businesses can save natural resources and money by recycling. BFI has always put the environment first when it comes to the way we do business.

SPECIAL EVENTS
BFI has been more than happy to provide free service to many different special events that take place in Santa Barbara. We do provide an equal amount of recycling receptacles compared to trash receptacles at all our events. We ask for announcements to be made to inform the guests of the event to please recycle.