Spring/Summer 2017 | Volume 19 | Page 4 www.ecenvironment.org | 510-215-4350

Happy Birthday, El Cerrito! The City is turning 100 years old this year, and the Events City of El Cerrito will be celebrating our community’s history over the past cen- through- tury with nearly 100 events throughout the year. Visit www.ElCerrito100.org out 2017 for more information and a full listing of events. Spring/Summer 2017 | Volume 19 www.ecenvironment.org | 510-215-4350 Free Monthly Tour of the Recycling + Environmental Resource Center: Inter- Best Practices for Your Green Waste Service ested in a behind-the-scenes look at the LEED Platinum Certified Recycling 1st Wed. 3 PM to 4 PM Center? Please wear long pants and closed-toed shoes. Tours at an alternative Monthly time can also be scheduled for a fee. For more information, call City staff at Organic or “green” waste 510-559-7686. makes up more than two- thirds of trash that is sent Environmental Quality Committee (EQC) Monthly Meetings: Join El Cerrito to the landfill. By effec- residents in working to improve environmental quality in El Cerrito! The EQC 2nd Tues. 7 PM meets monthly on the 2nd Tuesday of each month at 7 PM. El Cerrito City Hall, tively using your green Monthly Council Chambers, 10890 San Pablo Avenue. For more information, visit El Cerrito is celebrating its bin service, these materi- 100th anniversary as a city! www.el-cerrito.org/eqc. als could become useful Choose from dozens of nutrient-rich soil amend- Spring Citywide Garage Sale: Find great deals while keeping waste out of the events to celebrate at www.ElCerrito100.org. ments in just a few short landfill and getting to know your neighbors. The finalized map of locations and Sat. May 9 AM to 3 PM listings will be available online and in hardcopy on Thursday, May 11th. Visit * * * months. 20 www.el-cerrito.org/garagesale or call City staff at 510-559-7686 for more Here are some best prac- information. tices to help the City’s Fourth Annual Hillside Festival: Join the Environmental Quality Committee, El green waste program Cerrito Trail Trekkers, the Historical Society, Friends of Five Creeks, and many Saturday, May 20th deliver good clean com- Compost Give-Away Event at the El Cerrito Recycling + others in discovering the Hillside Natural Area through talks, hikes, and displays 9:00AM-3:00PM Sun. May post back to residents, Environmental Resource Center 10 AM to 5 PM on the unique history and nature of one of El Cerrito’s best-kept secrets. To start 21 farmers, and gardeners. out, join the celebration on the meadow above the Schmidt Lane trail head tic film that should be kept Sand

(7451 Schmidt Lane). Visit www.ectrailtrekkers.org for a full schedule of Acceptable items to put out of compost. While  Dead Animals events. in your green bin in- there are some truly biode-  Diapers, human or pet “It’s Our Fault” Natural History Hike: Come straddle the Pacific and North clude plant debris, all American Plates, discovering evidence of the Hayward Fault in this hike led by gradable plastics, many are waste Sat. June The finalized map of food scraps (including 10 AM to 1 PM the El Cerrito Trail Trekkers through the El Cerrito Hills. Learn also about not. These plastics are hard  Glass 17 locations and listings will measures you can take to be prepared for an earthquake. be available online and meat and bones), and to distinguish from other  Lawn Sod in hardcopy on food-soiled paper (like Visit www.ectrailtrekkers.org for more information. th plastics and are often  Liquids Thursday, May 11 . paper plates and pizza Green Team Clean-Up: Join El Cerrito’s Green Team in cleaning up the northern Please visit pulled from the compost in  Manure entryways to town. Let’s keep trash from polluting our creeks and the Bay while www.el-cerrito.org/ boxes). Invasive plants the normal screening proc-  Metal Sun. June presenting visitors with a positive first impression of our city. Wear a hat and garagesale or call City are acceptable as long as 10 AM to 12 PM staff at 510-559-7686. ess, unnecessarily adding  Milk Cartons (plastic- 25 bring water. Meet at 10 AM at the empty lot at the northwest corner of San they are not included in time and expense to the coated) Pablo and Cutting Avenues, next to the Freeway Motel. Sign up to volunteer * * * the “Things Not to Com- process.  Plastic of ANY kind today! Or simply show up. For more information, call City staff at 510-559-7686. post” list below.  Biodegradable plastics Things Not to Compost Centennial 4th of July Festival at Cerrito Vista Park: Music on July 3 from 5pm It is best not to compost (utensils, plates, bowls, 5 PM to 7 PM Please do not add the fol- July 3 & 4 to 7pm. Music, rides, games, food and more on July 4 from 10am to 6pm. Visit cups, etc.) 10 AM to 6 PM milk cartons and biode- lowing to your green waste www.el-cerrito.org/July4Festival.  Wood that has been gradable plastics. Milk bin: cartons and other food- treated, coated or “Where Recycling is a Pleasure” Historical Talk: Join an El Cerrito Historical So- 10890 San Pablo Avenue Wed. July 6 PM to 7:30  Ashes painted ciety talk about the unique history of El Cerrito’s Recycling Center. Join us at the El Cerrito, CA 94530 grade containers most 19 PM  Bamboo, Ivy, Palm Recycling + Environmental Resource Center at 7501 Schmidt Lane. [email protected] often are coated with a CONTINUED ON PAGE 3  Concrete, Dirt, Rocks, or non-biodegradable plas- Spring/Summer 2017 | Volume 19 | Page 2 www.ecenvironment.org | 510-215-4350 Spring/Summer 2017 | Volume 19 | Page 3 www.ecenvironment.org | 5 10-215-4350

It’s Easy To Go 100% Renewable Electricity Green Waste continued from page 1 Don’t Have Time to with MCE Clean Energy How Your Green Waste Becomes Compost Harvest Fruit From Your After you put organic waste in your green bin, it is Fruit Trees? In conjunction with MCE Clean Energy and the City’s Opera- ruption in your electrical service. Regardless of which transferred to a processing facility where it goes tions + Environmental Services Division, El Cerrito’s Environ- option you choose, PG&E still continues to handle the through a series of steps to become compost. Following Do you have a fruit tree with fruit that is going to waste be- mental Quality Committee has launched the Go 100% Re- transmission of electricity, billing and maintenance issues. grinding and processing, the materials are hauled to the cause you don’t have the time or the capability to harvest newable initiative to educate residents and businesses Deep Green not only helps our city reach its climate ac- compost pile area and placed in piles on top of perfo- the crop? about energy choices available in El rated pipes, which force air into the piles to keep them tion goals, it also moves us toward a Unharvested fruit Cerrito. properly aerated and to control the temperature of the cleaner, greener planet for future is a waste of a pile. After the piles are constructed, they are covered This year, you can celebrate El Cerrito’s generations. Each Deep Green home valuable resource, th with a minimum of six inches of finished compost mate- 100 Anniversary by choosing MCE’s eliminates over a ton of greenhouse and is also a mag- rial to control emissions and odors. Composting piles 100% renewable Deep Green electric- gas emissions in a year – the equiva- net for pest ani- are actively treated on the aeration pad for approxi- ity. Whether you are already a MCE lent of not driving 2,600 miles per mals such as rats. mately three to five weeks in order to kill pathogens. Light Green customer (50% renewable) year. Additionally, Deep Green cus- Neighborhood or have opted to stay with PG&E’s elec- tomers are helping to build local re- They are then moved to a curing area, where the com- gleaning efforts tricity generation service (30% renew- newable energy sources in our com- post can further mature. Curing allows for adequate are a way to make use of fruit that might otherwise go to able), you can easily enroll in Deep munity. Half of the penny per kilo- time to create a consistent material that will be ready waste. If you have a tree that needs harvesting or you know Green online at watt-hour premium paid by Deep for market. Once desired maturation is reached, the of a neighbor who needs help harvesting their fruit, organiz- www.mcecleanenergy.org/ElCerrito. Green customers is used to finance curing piles will be screened into finished compost. ing neighbors to have a harvest party is a great social oppor- the start-up costs of new renewable energy projects built For just one more cent per kilowatt-hour than Light Green, The finished product is often available for sale at the El tunity to come together to help each other and come away within MCE’s service area, including the 10.5 megawatt Deep Green is clean and affordable. For the typical house- Cerrito Recycling Center. The City’s organics processor with some great produce! In addition, harvested fruit can be (MW) Solar One project in Richmond. hold, Deep Green costs less than $5 a month more than provides limited supplies for distribution to El Cerrito taken to local food banks, which are usually very excited to Light Green. It takes less than 30 seconds to enroll in Deep Please join the City of Cerrito in celebrating our 100th residents for free every March and October. Be sure to get fresh, local fruit. Green and completely eliminate the carbon impact of your Anniversary by signing up today at check the City’s website (www.el-cerrito.org) or this Part of good fruit production begins with appropriate prun- electricity use. There is no installation needed and no inter- www.mcecleanenergy.org/ElCerrito. newsletter’s winter and summer Environmental Activi- ing to keep the tree healthy and improve the convenience ties Calendars to find dates for our Spring and Fall Com- of getting to the fruit. Contact the El Cerrito Community City Seeks Proposals for New Artist Residency Program at Recycling Center post Give-Away events. Garden Network for more information about local resources for fruit tree pruning workshops or ideas The City’s Arts and Culture Commission is accepting propos- in how to organize local gleaning services. als through May 18, 2017 for the newly created El Cerrito They can be contacted at ECCommunity- Creative ReUse (“ECCRU”) Artist Residency to take place at [email protected]. the City's popular Recycling + Environmental Resource Special thanks to Robin Mitchell of the Center. El Cerrito Community Garden Network for The program is intended to support local artists who work contributing this article. with recycled materials, and to encourage environmental stewardship – specifically, resource conservation, recycling and up-cycling – in the community through art that inspires Artists in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties are invited people to think about sustainability and consumption. The to apply by Thursday, May 18, 2017. More information ECCRU artist will have access to certain materials at the about the eligibility requirements and the application/ City's Recycling + Environmental Resource Center for use in selection process is online at www.el-cerrito.org/ECCRU. artistic projects, an on-site storage bin for materials, a small For additional information, contact Arts and Culture Com- stipend and support for an exhibition at the end of the mission staff liaison Suzanne Iarla at 510-215-4318 or residency. [email protected]. Aeration pipes for treating new compost piles