In brief: East Bay recycling company now accepting multilayer plastic

Ridwell picks up items most curbside services will not and has expanded to include this previously unrecyclable packaging.

EAST BAY

Americans buy billions of chips, granola bars and frozen food. Almost all of the wrappers for these items end up in landfills, polluting our environment. These items are packaged in what’s called multilayer plastic, several layers of plastic and other materials fused together, which standard curbside recycling programs won’t accept.

Ridwell, a company that has picked up reusable and hard-to-recycle items from Bay Area homes since last year, has just expanded its pickup service to include this previously unrecyclable packaging, which also includes the bags your frozen berries and favorite almonds come in, for example.

This is a first-of-its-kind sustainability program in partnership with specialty recyclers that give the materials a new life. Ridwell members together have saved more than 14 million pounds from landfills since the company’s founding in 2018, and adding multilayer plastic to what it takes is the company’s next step in the movement for a waste-free future.

In the Bay Area, Ridwell now operates in Berkeley, El Cerrito, Richmond, El Sobrante, Oakland (including the Oakland hills, Lake Merritt area and East, West and North Oakland), Alameda, Emeryville, Belmont, Burlingame, Foster City, Hillsborough, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos and San Mateo. Learn more online at ridwell.com.

— Ridwell

BERKELEY

Residential parking permits must be renewed by June 30

Berkeley residents can renew their existing parking permits online, in person or by mail before 2022-2023 permits expire June 30. Use the city of Berkeley’s online parking permit portal (berkeley.cmrpay.com/permits/login) to renew permits or sign up for new ones by June 30.

Starting July 1, city residents will need a 2023-2024 permit to avoid getting ticketed in Residential Preferential Parking (RPP) areas. Residents with a 2023 permit should have received a renewal notice letter by May 1 with instructions. Any resident who did not receive a notice should use the parking permit portal above. Each resident who does not renew s permit by July 1 will need to submit a new permit application that includes a photo identification and current vehicle registration.

The parking permit portal can also be used to apply for one-day digital visitor permits, which are valid for 24 hours from the time of activation. A hangtag visitor permit for a single day or 14 days can be purchased in-person in the city’s Finance Customer Service Center at 1947 Center Street on the first floor. The center’s phone number is 510-981-7210

— city of Berkeley

ALBANY

Police Department launches Area Coordinator Program

The Albany Police Department recognizes the importance of maintaining strong relationships with the community. In an effort to continually improve accessibility between officers and community members, the Albany Police Department is proud to announce the launch of its Area Coordinator Program.

This program breaks the city down into four smaller subsections, each with an assigned representative to answer questions and help resolve community issues. As always, though, emergency issues and crimes in progress should be reported to Police Department’s dispatch center via 911. For more details, visit bit.ly/3Pl1PIh online.

— city of Albany

HERCULES

Get rid of household hazardous waste, mattresses for free

Have unwanted household hazardous waste (HHW) items in your home? Do you have mattresses you no longer need? Do you know what to do with leftover paint? Are you aware that batteries in the trash can be a fire hazard?

Properly secure and dispose of these no longer needed common HHW items (and mattresses) at the RecycleMore Household Hazardous Waste and Mattress Drop-Off Collection Event for residents of West Contra Costa County from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in Hercules.

This is a free event open to residents of West Contra Costa County that includes El Cerrito, Richmond, San Pablo, Pinole, Hercules and the surrounding unincorporated communities of Bayview, East Richmond Heights, El Sobrante, Montalvin Manor, North Richmond, Rollingwood and Tara Hills. Be sure to bring proof of residence.

“This is a great event for residents in the RecycleMore jurisdiction and offers a free and safe way for the community to properly dispose of unwanted HHW items,” says Peter Holtzclaw, RecycleMore’s executive director.

Learn more about this event and what items are considered HHW online at recyclemore.com/062423. For residents who cannot attend this event, the West Contra Costa County Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 101 Pittsburg Ave. in Richmond accepts HHW items and mattresses all year from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

— RecycleMore

To submit an item for our “In brief” section, please email it, at least three days before publication, to njackson@bayareanewsgroup.com. Each item should be 90 to 180 words and include a short headline along with the name of the group or individual to whom the item is to be credited.