OJAI : Refuse Container Deposit Rescinded

In response to customers’ protests, Ojai Rubbish Inc. will provide new trash containers to the company’s 4,100 customers in the Ojai Valley without requiring a $50 deposit as originally requested.

Morteza Yasinni, owner of Ojai Rubbish, announced Saturday that he received so many complaints from customers about a deposit on the new 95-gallon containers that he figured out a way to provide them at no charge.

“We hope these lower costs will allow more people to participate in a system which will serve as the basis for future recycling and automated trash collection services in the Ojai Valley,” Yasinni said in a letter to customers.

The refuse-hauling company began exchanging its customers’ old 55-gallon metal drums last week for the 95-gallon containers made of recycled plastic. The new containers are designed so a mechanical arm on a trash truck can empty them into the truck’s collection bin.

The automated system will be used to collect recycled glass and aluminum cans when the county provides additional carts, Yasinni said.

He also said customers with a lot of trash will save money by being able to fit more refuse in the larger containers than in the smaller drums. Currently, Ojai Rubbish customers must pay extra for bags of trash that will not fit in the 55-gallon cans.

Yasinni said billing rates will not increase due to the larger size of the new containers.

Although the $50 deposit was to be refundable, Yasinni said that the original notice sent to the company’s customers last month did not mention that those who moved would get their money back if they returned the cart.

Angry residents called the company and their county supervisors complaining about the deposit. They said it would allow the company to collect up to $20,000 a year in interest.