The long-awaited opening of El Cerrito's new Recycling Center, which had been expected this month, has been delayed until mid-March, according to city officials.

The city had hoped to open the new facility this month, but the center has not received its water hook-up from East Bay MUD, the utility in charge of water lines, said city Environmental Analyst Garth Schultz, who manages the Recycling Center.

"We need water connections," Schultz said.

The city also hopes to hold a formal celebration of the new center – whose full name is the El Cerrito Recycling and Environmental Resource Center – around the end of April, he said.

The new facility is built on same site as the city's now-gone old Recycling Center, which began in 1971. It's located at the foot of an abandoned hillside rock quarry at 7501 Schmidt Lane.

The old facility was showing its age, and its design – having grown piecemeal over the decades – included somewhat haphazard traffic access that posed potential safety hazards. It shut down May 1 last year, with scaled-down interim recycling services being conducted on the periphery of the construction site since then.

The new facility will keep the center's trucks and forklifts separate from the vehicles of center users, incorporate numerous energy-saving features and accept a larger range of materials, especially for reuse. It will also provide information about recycling and environmental resources.

In the category of reuse materials, the old center had a popular Book Exchange whose use has sparked controversy over some book resellers accused of aggressively elbowing others out of the way and making off with boxes of the choice selections. The Book Exchange will continue at the new center under a set of civility rules that are being revised by the city.

Several other items will be added to the reuse shelves. Items named to the potential list in the past have included office and school supplies, CFLs (fluorescent bulbs), used cooking oil, paint, carpeting and mulch. The center will begin accepting old paint in middle or latter part of this year, Schultz said.

A recent addition to list of items to be accepted for recycling is household linens, including sheets and towels, Schultz said.

Among the recent additions to the structure are the solar panels on the semi-circular roof above the bays that will contain the recycling bins. The center is seeking LEED Platinum certification, the highest green rating for buildings.

Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly reported that the new Recycling Center will accept household linens for reuse. They will be accepted for recycling, according to city Environmental Analyst Garth Schult.

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