One City’s Scavenger Is Another City’s Recycler : Government: Curbside pickup service established in some cities may put an end to the individual collecting of some shopping-cart pushers.

Frank Lopez, a 60-year-old Lawndale man who scavenges for a living, appeared outside a recycling center, pushing a shopping cart packed tight with carefully segregated clumps of bottles, cans and plastic containers.

Asked how much cash he expected for the load, Lopez scratched his chin with a weather-beaten hand and replied: “Ten, maybe $11.” Asked how he would be affected if a curbside recycling program started in his city, he said simply: “I’ll be out of luck.”

Though they may help ease the shortage of landfill space in California, curbside programs could be bad news to scavengers. Several communities, from the Westside to the San Gabriel Valley, have expressed concern that scavengers are removing bottles, cans and other material set aside for recycling. Manhattan Beach, which started curbside service this month, has signaled that it will crack down on anyone taking trash left for the city’s hauler.

On Dec. 4, the day Manhattan Beach’s program started, police arrested two men after residents reported the pair were scavenging. The city says it is preparing to charge each man with a misdemeanor violation of the Municipal Code, which carries a maximum $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Police said the two were caught loading a pickup truck with trash-filled recycling containers that residents had placed at the curb for collection.

City officials say they plan to come down hard on anyone caught removing trash, even if it means arresting people like Lopez who rely on scavenging for their livelihood. If scavengers remove material left for recycling, officials complain, the city’s hauler will have less to sell--and the curbside program will lose money.

“It can jeopardize the economics of it, so we take an aggressive attitude,” said Carl Abel, Manhattan Beach’s public services director. “What can I say? It’s a question of whether you want the program to succeed or not to succeed.”

Manhattan Beach’s tough stance is in sharp contrast to the attitude of some cities that have no curbside programs--particularly Hermosa Beach.

This month, Hermosa Beach took the unusual step of expressly legalizing scavenging. To remove any negative connotations, City Manager Kevin Northcraft makes clear that he and other officials consider the activity salvaging, not scavenging.

“Our feeling was that if we didn’t have a (curbside) recycling program, we certainly didn’t want to discourage the voluntary efforts that are already going on,” Northcraft said. The city will allow scavengers to remove trash from garbage cans, he said, “if they don’t make a mess.”

Several South Bay residents interviewed on the scavenging question shared Northcraft’s view. Said Walt Abott, a Manhattan Beach retiree: “So what? They can have it as long as they don’t take my bin.”

The expansiveness is not shared by Manhattan Beach city officials and less so by Western Waste Industries, that city’s private hauler. Said Robert Abajian of Western Waste: “We rely on the sale of this material to make this thing fly. . . . Scavenging is a concern.”