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The City of El Monte held a
unique community-wide event on Sunday, November 14, 2004,
in celebration of America Recycles Day. In conjunction with
the California Department of Conservation, the City conducted
its symbolic action called the Billion Bottle March to
raise public awareness of the fact that over a billion plastic
water bottles are carelessly disposed or littered each year
throughout California. In El Monte alone, this equates to
more than 3 million bottles! Hundreds of local residents,
as well as many civic organizations, businesses, and non-profit
organizations joined in this important action.
 The
focal point of the celebration was the Billion Bottle
March, in which half of the schools
in El Monte participated and consisted of a march around
the park by youth and adults shouting slogans, singing songs,
carying signs and banners encouraging local action to prootect
the environment and increase recycling.
The March was followed
by free food for all, recycling games, information tables,
and a recycled art and fashion show including the design
and coloring of t-shirts with environmental themes.
 One
of the key features of the event was that all local schools
and churches were invited
to collect as many CRV cans and bottles as possible for the
month prior to the event. United Pacific Waste was
on hand to accept the CRV materials from the schools and
paid up to four times the normal CRV value while residents
were
paid about double the CRV value.
Over $25,000 was
paid to the schools for recycling
the most CRV materials during the four-hour
event, along with
prizes to students for winning
the art
and fashion show, and to individuals for recycling
the most CRV materials. United Pacific Waste hauled
out four 40-yard roll off bins of recyclables and one stationary
recycling
bin.
The El Monte City Council was
on hand to greet the public and encourage residents to support
recycling
and waste prevention. The public was urged to increase recycling
to decrease litter, improve the community, and protect the
storm water system from trash
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