Baldwin Park : Hazardous Waste Plan OKd

The City Council has approved a proposed county hazardous waste management plan that would establish procedures for the disposal of commercial and household hazardous waste.

The council voted 5 to 0 last week to back the plan and an accompanying environmental impact report.

The vote moved Los Angeles County one step closer to implementing the plan, which is required by a 1986 state law. The Board of Supervisors began preparing the plan in 1987.

Two other cities, Temple City and Monrovia, have already backed the waste management plan.

In addition to establishing procedures for the disposal and transportation of hazardous waste, the plan outlines criteria for the selection of waste storage facilities. The proposed plan does not identify any specific sites.

A majority of the 85 cities in the county must support the plan before it can be implemented, said Mike Mohajer, project manager for the waste management plan in the county’s Department of Public Works.

Also, the combined population of those cities that approve the plan must be at least 50% of the population in the county’s incorporated areas, Mohajer said. Incorporated areas of the county have a total population of 7.5 million, compared to 1 million in unincorporated areas.