County Launches Its Own Recycling Program

Los Angeles County on Monday kicked off a voluntary curbside trash recycling program for 36,000 households in five unincorporated areas that could be expanded countywide during the next two to three years.

The program--which began Monday in Altadena/La Crescenta and Montrose and will be rolled out to East Pasadena and Hacienda Heights on Feb. 5 and Lennox in March--requires all private trash haulers who work in those areas to pick up recyclable materials at the curb as part of their regular residential service.

Homeowners are being asked to separate glass and plastic bottles, cans and newspapers from the rest of their garbage.

“We’re facing a very serious solid-waste problem,” said Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who authored the measure that was adopted by the Board of Supervisors last month.

“This is a very aggressive program” that could cut by 20% the amount of garbage that residents send to area landfills, he said.

County officials said most haulers have agreed to provide homeowners with separate bins and bags for the recyclable materials and to pick up the material for additional monthly charges of $1 to $1.50 per household--whether or not residents participate. Private haulers contract directly with homeowners in unincorporated areas of the county, typically charging $14 to $16 a month for weekly curbside trash service.

The county plan comes on the heels of a massive, mandatory recycling plan approved by Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley last week that will eventually pick up recyclable materials from 720,000 single-family households citywide. Officials have estimated the city program could cost upward of $190 million during its first five years of operation.

City officials were skeptical about the low-cost estimates of the county plan.

“I find it difficult to believe that $1.50 a month will pay for trucks, equipment, bins, transportation . . . “ and the other additional costs haulers will encounter, said Joan Edwards, city recycling coordinator.

But haulers say that, at least for the time being, the extra monthly fees and revenues from sales of the recyclable materials will offset their added costs.

“Our goal is to make a situation in which we can provide the service and make a profit,” said Les Bittenson, district manager of Browning-Ferris Industries, a private trash hauler that services 14,000 homes in the five unincorporated county areas. Bittenson said the new fee structure was based on the experience the firm gained in similar recycling programs it has worked on across the nation.

Bittenson said that after an initial surge, the county program will probably attract 25% to 30% of the homeowners, who will recycle an average of about 20 pounds of material a week.

California cities and counties are facing a state-mandated timetable that requires 25% of household waste to be recycled by 1995 and 50% by the year 2000 in an effort to stave off a looming landfill crisis.

The city of Los Angeles currently has about 95,000 households in a pilot program. Other cities, including Santa Monica, Glendale and Burbank also have recycling programs under way.

The initial county program will affect only about 12% of all households in unincorporated areas.

David Yamahara, assistant deputy director of waste management for the county, said that as the county learns from these initial pilot efforts, it will expand the program to other areas.