Council Approves Recycling Agreement

The City Council approved a new 10-year agreement with Gold Coast Recycling Inc. that will divert more trash than ever from city landfills, and should save the city some money too.

The term of the new agreement will begin Jan. 1.

Gold Coast Recycling, the public-private recycling partnership created in 1989 with the city of Ventura, takes in up to 440 tons of materials a day for recycling. It is now undergoing a $6-million expansion--scheduled for completion in August--that includes a 44,000-square-foot building, allowing it to process 1,200 tons a day.

The new agreement between the city and Gold Coast factors in the expanded facility.

Under the agreement, all municipal solid waste generated within Ventura will be trucked to the Gold Coast facility for sorting and transfer to the landfill. The city will collect a 5% administrative fee and 1.5% of the gross revenues.

The biggest difference under the new agreement is that Gold Coast will bear the market risk for all recyclables. Under the previous agreement, the city guaranteed Gold Coast a 10% profit margin. But the city report states that with expanded capacity, profits will increase, and the city will no longer need to guarantee a fixed percentage.

The new agreement also stipulates that an audit be performed at the end of this year to calculate the profit margin.

Councilman Steve Bennett proposed that the City Council amend the agreement to require an annual audit. But after City Atty. Bob Boehm said he thought the language of the agreement provided sufficient safeguards for the city to do so if it wished, the council voted not to write that requirement in.

Mayor Jack Tingstrom compared Ventura’s recycling program to Oxnard’s, and called his city’s a resounding success.

“Look at Oxnard,” he said. “They spent $35 million on a facility and now they subsidize it. Ventura? Zero. I think we’re getting a great deal.”