Huntington Park : Automated Trash Pickup

Beverly Hills and Imperial Beach, move over.

Huntington Park will join a handful of Southern California cities that will have automated trash pickup.

The City Council, in approving an ordinance last week, will pick up a tab of $267,000 to pay for 4,500 100-gallon barrels to be given to residences of three units or less. The new system will go into effect Dec. 1.

One barrel will be allotted to each household and residents will be required to put all their trash in the new containers.

The trash collection company serving the city, System Disposal Inc., will purchase two specially designed trucks to pick up the trash.

The barrels are picked up at the curb by the trucks, which have forks on the side. The forks pick the trash containers up, empty and return them.

If a barrel is lost or a second can is needed, residents are responsible for buying it from the company for $62.50 each. The barrels are made of polyethylene.

“It keeps the city clean,” Councilman Tom Jackson said. “It won’t rain into the barrel.”

He said the new system will also help keep costs down. “The obvious savings is that one person can pick up the whole route,” Jackson said.

The trash collection fee residents pay will remain $5 a month.