Woodland Hills : Residents Drop Trash Pickups for Recycling

Los Angeles’ first do-it-yourself curb-side trash recycling project has been drastically cut by Woodland Hills residents who were defeated by steep terrain--and dropping prices for scrap paper.

Leaders of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Organization said they are discontinuing monthly pickups of scrap newspaper, aluminium cans and glass bottles in areas south of Ventura Boulevard.

The hilly, 10,000-home area between Corbin Avenue and Calabasas had been targeted for curb-side pickups the first Saturday of the month by a private recycling firm working for the homeowners’ group.

But the area turned out to be too large and the streets too steep and narrow for the company’s trucks, Robert Gross, vice president of the group, said Friday.

“We were missing half the people and losing another quarter to scavengers who beat us into the neighborhoods,” he said.

Additionally, Gross said, the price of used paper dropped from $80 a ton in February, when the pickups began, to about $10 a ton.

Nonetheless, the project has raised $6,400, which has been donated to the Foundation for Pierce College, he said.

After conducting a suggestion contest among Pierce students, the homeowners’ group decided to ask the foundation to use the money to purchase new materials for the campus library, group member Shirley Blessing said.

Homeowners said curb-side collections will continue in flatland areas and parts of Woodland Hills north of the Ventura Freeway on the third Saturday of the month. About 3,000 homes are in that area.

In the meantime, scrap collection bins have been set up next to the college’s tennis courts near its Winnetka Avenue entrance, they said.