HUNTINGTON BEACH : City Recycles Rubble From Pier Pilings

Although none of the concrete debris from the demolished Municipal Pier is suitable for a planned offshore fishing reef, an estimated 2,500 tons of rubble has been recycled rather than dumped into a landfill, as city officials had previously reported.

The city will not receive any portion of the revenue from the recycled concrete, but the tons of reused material will greatly help the city’s efforts to meet state recycling requirements, City Engineer Robert Eichblatt said Monday.

To date, the state Department of Fish and Game has rejected all of the concrete rubble from the pier’s pilings that it had planned to haul 5 1/2 miles out to sea to create an artificial fishing reef. Because the 76-year-old pier was so badly weathered, the pilings “just crumbled when we pulled them out,” Eichblatt said.

Officials had originally reported that the crushed concrete would have to be dumped in a landfill. They recently learned, however, that the materials could be recycled, Eichblatt said.

He said he is preparing to document the recycled debris so the city receives credit toward its effort to comply with recently imposed state requirements. Under state Senate Bill 939, each city is mandated to recycle 25% of its waste by 1995, and an additional 25% by the year 2000.

The city cannot receive any revenue from the recycled pilings, however. Under its reconstruction contract with Riedel International Inc., the Oregon-based firm owns all the materials resulting from the demolition, Eichblatt said.

Meanwhile, Eichblatt and Riedel officials are hoping that some of the remaining pilings still may be usable for the Department of Fish and Game’s fishing reef.

The reef, similar to dozens of others the department has established off the California coastline from San Diego to Santa Cruz, is planned as a mile-long region of cut pier pilings that would serve as a new habitat for a variety of fish.

Workers are removing 95 pilings from the beach, which are in much better condition than the ocean-immersed ones that so far have been demolished, said Gary Davis, Reidel’s project coordinator.

Since the onshore pilings have not been corroded by salt, crashing waves and underwater currents, they still may be solid enough to be used for the reef project, Eichblatt said.