The Arcata Community Recycling Center (ACRC), founded in 1971 as part of the Northcoast Environmental Center, is one of America's oldest non-profit
recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
facilities. The center promotes environmental awareness in the North Coast and facilitates diversion of materials from landfills in
Arcata
Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...
and
Eureka
Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
.
Saddled by debt associated with an $8 million construction project in neighboring
Samoa, California
Samoa (formerly Brownsville) is a census-designated place in Humboldt County, California. It is located northwest of Eureka, at an elevation of 23 feet (7 m). Samoa is located in the northern peninsula of Humboldt Bay and is the site of the Sa ...
and loss of a processing agreement with the local waste management authority, in January 2012 operations of the old ACRC and its Samoa facility were terminated. After 10 months during which the organization no longer processed recyclables, in November 2012 a new Arcata Community Recycling Center was launched in its historic Arcata location.
History
Establishment
The Northcoast Environmental Center was established in
Arcata, California
Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...
in June 1971 by a coalition of six local environmental organizations.
["New Recycling Center Open, 650 A Street, Arcata,"]
''Times Standard'' ureka, CA vol. 117, no. 184 (July 15, 1971), pg. 6. These included a group called
Humboldt Organization for Protection of the Environment (HOPE), local chapters of the
Sierra Club and
Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...
, the Northcoast Rivers Association, the Phoenix Environmental Committee of the
College of the Redwoods
College of the Redwoods (CR) is a public community college with its main campus in Eureka, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and serves three counties and has two branch campuses, as well as three additional sit ...
, and a student hiking club at
Humboldt State University
California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt also known as Cal Poly Humboldt, Humboldt or Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California or California State Polytechnic Universi ...
.
A space for the gathering of bottles, aluminum cans, and newspapers for recycling was obtained on A Street in Arcata, with a move made to a larger facility formerly occupied by the
Arcata Transit Authority a few doors away made just weeks after the center's launch.
At the time of launch aluminum cans were to be taken to a local beverage distributorship for recycling with glass and newspaper transported by rail to the San Francisco bay area for processing.
Glass was stored offsite in 55-gallon steel drums until a sufficient quantity could be accumulated to fill a railway gondola car.
The center was entirely staffed by volunteer labor during its initial incarnation.
Executive Director of the Northcoast Environmental Center from 1971 to 1974 was
Wes Chesbro, later elected to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors and the
California State Assembly.
The recycling operation was spun off from the Northcoast Environmental Center as an independent entity called the Arcata Community Recycling Center (ACRC) about 1973, with the two organizations located side-by-side in Arcata.
Development
Operations moved to the current location at 9th & N St. in the early 1980s. In 2002, ACRC began operation of the Eureka Community Recycling Center adjacent to the Humboldt Waste Management Authority's Transfer Station located in Eureka.
The Reusables Depot Thrift Store, also at the 9th & N St. location, serves as a reuse center for unwanted household and sporting goods, building materials, and garden supplies.
In 2007 ACRC opened the 35,800 sq. ft. Samoa Processing Facility which houses a dual stream sorting line. This facility is a green building and is slated for
LEED certification. Recyclables enter the facility in two streams, mixed papers and containers, from curbside collection and drop off sites and are sorted by material type using a combination of machine and people power. This facility diverted over 11,000 tons of materials from the landfill annually.
The Samoa site also served as home to the Bette Dobkin Education Center where students of all ages were able to learn about resource conservation.
Closure and relaunch
In November 2011, suffering from the dual blows of high loan repayment costs associated with the opening of its $8 million Samoa Processing Facility and loss of its processing agreement with
Humboldt Waste Management Authority (HWMA) by being underbid by an outside company, an announcement was made by the RCRC's governing Board of Directors that the operations of the Arcata Community Recycling Center and its Samoa facility was to be terminated in January 2012. An effort was made for the Samoa facility to continue through a lease to the HWMA, but this effort ended in failure when no agreement between the two parties could be reached.
After 10 months during which no operations took place, on November 14, 2012, a new Arcata Community Recycling Center was relaunched in the same Arcata location as the former enterprise.
Closure
The site again closed in January 2016.
See also challenges it faces
*
Environment of California
The environment of California describes results of human habitation of the American State of California.
History of environmental action
California's Mediterranean climate makes vegetation susceptible to wildfires through the dry summers. ...
Footnotes
{{Reflist, 2
External links
Arcata Community Recycling Center HomepageHumboldt County's Waste Reduction & Recycling Guide
Buildings and structures in Arcata, California
Recycling in the United States
1971 establishments in California