Gardena Approves Transfer of Residential Trash Contract

After 40 years of contracting with Gardena-based Municipal Service Co. for residential trash pickup, City Council members voted unanimously this week to transfer the contract to Browning-Ferris Industries Inc., which is buying the local company.

Texas-based Browning-Ferris, one of the nation’s largest refuse haulers, will begin pickup for Gardena’s 15,000 residents by the end of the month. It will operate under the original contract with the city, which includes a basic service rate of $6.25 a month unless there is a rise in the consumer price index, landfill rates or fuel costs.

Municipal Service Co. President Cary Agajanian told the council that the family-owned and -operated company--which served only Gardena--has gone into probate since the death last year of his father, J. C. Agajanian, the company’s founder. Agajanian said he was selling the company because of increasingly high dumping fees and insurance rates and because family members want to provide financial security for their mother.

Agajanian also told council members that he and his brother, J. C. Agajanian Jr., president of the company’s refuse division, will be consultants to Browning-Ferris for the remaining three years of the contract to maintain the same level of service.

Councilman Paul Tsukahara said he was concerned about a trend toward reduced competition among refuse haulers. Agajanian noted that four national companies provide waste service in the South Bay “so competition is still possible.”

“Regrettably,” he added, “circumstances have dictated the end of the mom-and-pop refuse companies.”

Browning-Ferris spokesman Les Bittenson said the company plans to serve the city from its Gardena district operations center. Browning-Ferris also serves Hermosa Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Lawndale and unincorporated areas in the South Bay from that location.

The Agajanian family also owns Agajanian Enterprises, which operates Ascot Speedway in Gardena.