Gardena Tackling Problems With Recycling Goals

The city has been on the state’s “watch list” for two years for failing to meet a 2000 goal to recycle 50 percent of city trash.

The city risks $10,000-a-day fines and some leaders think too many haulers are hampering oversight. One suggestion is to reduce the number of contracts from 10 to as few as four and find out why trash tonnage reports filed with the city do not match those reported by landfill operators.

Tuesday, Gardena agreed to hire an auditor to track haulers’ reports and pinpoint the problem.

“I’m in favor of a reduction so we can get a better account for what they’re doing,” said Mayor Terry Terauchi. Current contracts were to expire Dec. 31 but were given a two-month extension Tuesday on a 4-1 vote. Councilman Steve Bradford voted no.

Bradford said fewer haulers may mean higher rates and 10 is a reasonable number for a city the size of Gardena. “Competition is healthy and the more competitive the marketplace, the better the rates,” he said.

Business owners choose the haulers but the City Council locks in minimum and maximum rates. An average-size bin dumped twice a week, for example, ranges from $90 to $199.33.

One local businessman said he wants the current list left alone.

“I don’t want a monopoly,” said Rodney Thompson, owner of Hill’s Pet N Feed. “I use a small, independent and local company. I had a larger company before and I had a lot of problems with them. I’d bury my trash before I used them again.”

The state Integrated Waste Management Board — which enforces the recycling mandates — suggested Gardena limit the number of haulers, as well as sponsor recycling programs, said Tony Vieira, city public works administrator.

The city has more than 3,500 commercial and industrial businesses and haulers aren’t allowed to mingle trash with that of other cities, though it happens all the time, Vieira said.

One reason for mixing may be that since Gardena has overlapping ZIP codes, some haulers don’t realize it when the trash really comes from a Los Angeles business, he said.

As a result, the trash tonnage reports Gardena gets don’t match those filed by landfill operators at the state, he said.

One local hauler said it’s not his fault some companies falsely credit trash as coming from Gardena. “The city must abide with the recycling standards and a lot of haulers use Gardena’s name to dump; that’s the problem,” said Roger Davidian, vice president of HMD Waste Company, a 12-truck operation based in Gardena.

He said customers — and smaller companies like his — will be the ones to really suffer.

“We’re the people who keep the big companies honest,” he said. – The Daily Breeze (Torrance, Calif.)