Local News in Brief : Trash Ordinance Is Approved

The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council adopted an ordinance governing the collection and disposal of trash and approved a five-year franchise agreement effective July 1 with Waste Management of California to haul trash in the south-central and eastern portions of the city.

In the past, residents individually have contracted with trash haulers. Within the next six months, trash collection throughout the city will be franchised.

The franchise approved Tuesday includes a provision for Waste Management to pick up pre-sorted recyclable materials such as glass, aluminum and paper at the curb. Waste Management will provide residents with special bins for the materials.

Proceeds for the recycled materials will be paid to the city and will be dispersed in the form of city services to the areas that generated them, said public information officer Cari Cooper. Residents who do not want to recycle do not have to separate their trash, but they will pay a recycling fee anyway.

For most residents in the affected area, trash fees will be lower under the new contract. Most residents are paying Browning Ferris Industries $16.09 per month; when Waste Management takes over the fee will be $14.40 per month, $1.38 of which is the recycling fee.

Browning Ferris, which holds individual contracts with residents until July, mounted a last-minute effort at the council meeting to win the contract with the city by lowering its bid 47 cents below Waste Management’s. But city officials decided that it was too late.