Young people with the Kern Service Conservation Corps have been knocking on apartment complex doors in Oildale to encourage residents to put the right items in their blue recycling bins.

Tony Bonnano with Kern County Public Works says other countries are getting picky about which items they’ll take, and putting the items in the wrong bin takes time to sort–which costs us all more money. Bonnano says people don’t realize that some of the items sent to the landfill like wood and metal gates are recycled more easily there.

The teenagers have been handing out recycling bags and information.

A state grant is paying for the program, which will be expanded to other areas of unincorporated Kern County.

Kelli Pierce