Santa Cruz Warriors, City of Santa Cruz Launch 'Think Before You Throw' Video

From Santa Cruz Public Works Department:

The Santa Cruz Warriors and the City of Santa Cruz have joined forces to launch a new public service announcement, “Think Before You Throw,” as part of the City’s Recycle Right! campaign. The 30-second video, starring Mav’Riks, the Santa Cruz Warriors team mascot, addresses contamination, the number-one recycling problem in Santa Cruz and the nation.

“We are thrilled with the opportunity to partner with the City of Santa Cruz to help heighten environmental awareness of this recycling issue in our community,” said Santa Cruz Warriors President Chris Murphy. “The Recycle Right! campaign will continue to reduce the amount of landfill trash and conserve natural resources locally.”

City Manager Martín Bernal said, “The City is excited about this collaborative effort and how our relationship with the Santa Cruz Warriors continues to grow in ways that help our community.”

In “Think Before You Throw,” Mav’Riks has fun demonstrating what can and cannot be recycled by shooting materials into the correct blue recycling or brown trash bin. He identifies the three prime culprits of Santa Cruz recycling contamination as containers that are not clean, single plastic bags and hinged plastic food boxes known as “clam shells.”

Mav’Riks illustrates that boxes, bottles, cans, jugs, and jars are all recyclable so long as they are clean of any food or other residue. He slam-dunks “clam shells” into the trash because the composition of the plastic is too thin; there is no current recycling market for this material.

The proper recycling of plastic bags in Santa Cruz is shown in the video with the “bag your bags” method of bundling and tying bags together. If these rules are not followed, loose bags or contaminated items can spoil the entire recycling bin, even an entire recycling truckload.

Photos courtesy of the Santa Cruz Department of Public Works