LA River Keepers Program
This program, developed in partnership with the Los Angeles Community Development Department and the Bureau of Sanitization, works to restore and revitalize sections of the LA River.
Remove and Recycle Litter and Debris from LA River
"Thanks to this new partnership , the LA River Keepers program will
be able to continue its efforts to remove and recycle litter and debris
from the LA River and promote environmental education, as
well as provide ongoing opportunities for job skills training for our
area youth," said Bruce Saito, Executive Director of the LA
Conservation Corps.
The LA River Keepers' vision lies in the premise that the Los
Angeles River environment is an excellent location for training,
education and green job skill development through classroom and outdoor
environmental restoration projects.
"This generous donation from the American Chemistry Council pumps
much-needed dollars into two of the City's most valuable resources--our
youth and our environment," said Councilmember Ed P. Reyes, who
spearheaded the City's Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan to
transform the concrete-corseted L.A. River into a continuous greenbelt
linking communities.
The L.A. River Keepers, mostly inner-city young
adults, pick up trash, remove bulky items and provide an ongoing
presence at the River as it undergoes revitalization.
The LA River Keepers provides these service projects:
- watershed education
- native plant
landscaping
- weekly restoration work including removal of debris and illegal dumping,
- removal of graffiti
- recycling,
- fire hazard and
fuel reduction
"The LA River Keepers program will help increase recycling, improve environmental education, and keep litter out of our waterways, which are goals we all share," said Sherri McCarthy, Manager, State Affairs, American Chemistry Council. "We're very pleased to support this program and to help increase awareness of the many plastics that can be recycled in Los Angeles."
Recycling Programs to Collect Plastic Debris
The LA Conservation Corps is the latest partner to join the
statewide recycling awareness campaign, "Plastics. Too Valuable to
Waste. Recycle.(SM)," which has found success in a variety of areas.
The campaign began in 2008 when representatives from the California
Department of Parks and Recreation, ACC and Keep California Beautiful
(KCB) launched a recycling program that placed - and continues to
maintain - hundreds of permanent and seasonal recycling bins at State
Parks sites in the Los Angeles and Central Coast areas. The program
soon spread to State Parks beaches in the San Diego, Monterey and Santa
Cruz areas, the City of Woodland, California, and to California highway
rest stops through its new partnership with the California Department
of Transportation (Caltrans).
About the LA Conservation Corps:
The LA Conservation Corps was
founded in 1986 with the primary mission to provide at-risk young
adults and school-aged youth with opportunities for success through job
skills training, education and work experience with an emphasis on
conservation and service projects that benefit the community. Over the
past 24 years, the Corps has grown into the largest urban conservation
corps in the nation with a full-time staff of over 150 employees
serving over 17,000 young people each year
The American Chemistry Council, whose members include major plastics manufacturers, recognizes the importance of keeping plastics out of the marine environment best management practices.
Web Site: http://www.2valuable2waste.com/