Scavenging Ordinance

Garden Grove City Council members are right to be skeptical about a proposal by one councilman to adopt an ordinance that would make criminals of scavengers who hunt through garbage for salvage. A similar ordinance adopted in Orange five years ago was ridiculed as “ludicrous” by a municipal court judge who fined an elderly disabled man--the father of five children--a total of 10 cents after the man had been arrested rummaging through a dumpster behind a grocery store in search of food for his family. Police obviously have far more serious matters to tend to than chasing after such unfortunate people, and cities have far worse problems.

Still, Garden Grove City Councilman Robert F. Dinsen expressed a genuine concern about scavengers who leave bigger--and more unsanitary--problems behind when they cruise through neighborhoods tearing open trash bags to look for bottles, cans and paper that can be sold for cash. In their haste, some of these scavengers scatter garbage that can attract roaches and vermin. Residents, of course, want this stopped. The question is who should be the enforcers of an ordinance aimed at controlling the trashing of trash.

In Irvine, where there is curbside recycling for houses, there is a different problem. Scavengers there are looking for bottles, cans and paper to sell to recycling plants. Some of the residents who separate their trash into special bins have complained that their things have been ripped off by scavengers before the city can pick them up. But the primary purpose of the program is to reduce the amount of trash going to landfills. Since it actually costs the city money--costs offset only in small part by money collected for recycled items--we wonder why anyone is bothered by someone else taking the trash. It would seem that the city is being saved the trouble of carrying it off.

Other cities in Orange County have ordinances that attempt to control scavenging. In Garden Grove, the council has appointed a committee to study the trash problem. The committee, if it is going to propose legislation, should make sure that it is carefully drafted to focus on the question of sanitation. It should also spare police officers--whose services are vitally needed elsewhere--from having to stake out trash cans.