Irvine Looks for Silver Lining in Waste Disposal Problem

In the last month, Irvine neighborhoods have taken on a more colorful look.

Color-coded green-and-yellow bins have been stacked by the curbs as part of the city’s new recycling program, which began March 25.

Under the program--the first of its kind in Orange County--the city’s 25,000 homeowners have been given three sets of bins in which to toss their recylables.

A yellow bin is for glass. A green bin is for paper. A light-green bin is for aluminum.

Once the bins are full, residents are asked to stack them by the front curb, along with their garbage. The recyclable material is removed during regular garbage pickup once a week. A flatbed truck follows behind the garbage truck to empty the colored bins.

City officials say that it is too early to proclaim the program a success but that feedback from residents is encouraging.

Bob Graham, Irvine’s manager of public services, said preliminary results from a citywide survey show that 90% of residents are happy with the recycling program.

“The other 10% say they don’t want to be bothered, that this is something else in life they don’t need,” Graham said.

Although homeowners pay 60 cents more per month for the service (the increase will be reflected on their county tax bills), Graham said the city hopes to achieve long-term savings from the program.

Landfill costs are continually escalating, and the city can save an as-yet undetermined amount of money by not having to dump recyclable materials, he said.

Instead, Graham said, six trucks from Dewey’s Rubbish (which also provides trash service for the city) take the materials to a private recycling firm. Graham said costs of the pickup are offset by proceeds from turning the materials in.

Not all is rosy with the new program, however. One of the bugs is a tendency by many residents to leave their color-coded bins out by the curb--empty or not.

The pickup trucks have to stop at each bin to see if it needs emptying, wasting time and energy if it does not, Graham said.

If homeowners don’t want their recyclables picked up one week, Graham asks them to please leave the bins inside.

The Irvine recycling program is patterned after one in San Jose. Newport Beach is the only other Orange County city with a recycling program, but it only provides for newspaper collection once a month.

The Irvine City Council approved the recycling plan after a six-month trial program covering about 7,000 homes. About 71% of homeowners participated in the trial program, Graham said.

Businesses, apartments and condominiums are not included in the recycling program, but city officials say they hope to expand the service. More complete results of the program should be available after it has been running for at least three months, Graham said.