PLACENTIA : Residents Protest Plans for Recycling

Calling the city’s recycling plan a “trash monopoly” for the Placentia Disposal Co., several residents at the City Council meeting this week demanded that the city reconsider plans to sell $2.6 million in bonds to finance the program.

“There are too many unanswered questions about this plan,” said Betty Mead, a Placentia resident for more than 20 years. “Everything is a plus for the provider, but there is no plus for the customer beyond recycling, and many of us already do that.”

The recycling program is scheduled to begin July 1 and will result in an increase in disposal charges of almost $2 per household. The current fee of $7.53 will rise to $9.99.

Participation in the program will be mandatory. Residents will be required to separate their discards into two city-supplied containers: Household trash such as yard clippings and food wastes would go into one; recyclable glass, aluminum cans, plastic containers and newspaper would go into the other. The household trash will be collected weekly; the recyclable items, every other week.

Mead and six other residents told the council at its meeting Tuesday night that they were concerned about the city’s plans to finance all the new equipment and machinery the Placentia Disposal Co. will get to implement the program. Council members responded that the city’s financing would result in savings for residents.

“We’ve considered all the options,” City Administrator Robert D’Amato said. “If Placentia Disposal had to finance their own equipment, the rates would go up another 50 cents per household.”

Although the program has been approved, the city will continue deliberation on the bond-sale part of the plan.

The protesters also expressed displeasure with the mandatory nature of the program. Residents are not now required to contract with the city for trash collection, and the protesters pointed out that a number of city residents already recycle their trash.

Councilwoman Maria Moreno, the only council member to vote against the plan, said she has been receiving phone calls since the plan was introduced at the Feb. 6 council meeting. She said that she is very much in favor of recycling but that those who are already recycling on their own should not be required to participate in the city program.