Farr's efforts began in 1999 when he proposed an amendment approved by the House Appropriations Committee to make recycling mandatory. That amendment was struck down during debate, but Farr persisted with a campaign called "if Congress won't recycle, recycle Congress."
Eventually a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans co-sponsored Farr's resolution.
The internal House recycling program went from costing taxpayers over a million dollars while wasting most of the paper collected for "recycling" to earning money for House operations. In FY 2004 the House recycled 1,744 tons of waste and saved valuable landfill space.
In addition, the House now has policies requiring products to contain recycled materials.
Students from Mission Hill Middle School in Santa Cruz toured the Grey Bears recycling facility and met with Representative Farr at the event.
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