NEWPORT BEACH : Council Considers Recycling Proposal

Newport Beach is considering a citywide recycling program that would cost residents 74 cents a month while eliminating the need to presort glass, plastic, newspapers and aluminum.

Under the proposal, trash would be left at curbside as usual and then transferred to a Stanton processing center, where recyclable materials would be separated mechanically, according to David E. Niederhaus, general services director.

Such a procedure would cost the city half as much as programs that require residents to separate recyclable materials before they are picked up, he said. Since residents would continue depositing trash as in the past, it would also mean 100% participation, he said.

The option was presented to the City Council during a study session last week.

“I thought I got a very positive response,” Niederhaus said after the meeting. “They indicated to me they felt we were heading in the right direction.”

The “central processing recovery” proposal is attractive to Newport Beach, in part because the city uses its own fleet of trash trucks, rather than contracting with a refuse disposal company like other Orange County cities, Niederhaus said. If the program is approved by the City Council next Monday, city trucks will simply deliver the trash to the processing center in Stanton, which is almost 10 miles closer than the new dump at Bee Canyon in southeast Irvine.

A previously considered program, which would have required residents to sort their own recyclables, would have cost the city about $1 million to initiate, including the cost of plastic bins, new trucks and more city employees, Niederhaus said.

If the 10-year contract with CR Transfer Inc. is approved, recycling would begin Aug. 1. If a separate ordinance is approved requiring residents to pay the difference between transferring trash to the landfill and running it through a recycling process, residents can expect to see an additional 74-cent fee on their water bill each month, Niederhaus said.

Newport Beach has been recycling newspapers since 1974. Last November, a state law passed that requires cities to recycle 25% of all their trash by 1995, Niederhaus said. Adopting the proposed program would help Newport Beach meet that goal, he said.