NEWPORT BEACH : City Exceeds Goals for Residential Trash
A contract with a trash handler that separates waste for city residents has allowed the city to exceed state recycling goals, but businesses in Newport Beach continue to lag behind, city officials said.
Businesses in the city recycled less than 10% of their trash in May, but 31% of individual residents’ trash was recycled, said David Niederhaus, the city’s director of general services.
Niederhaus attributed the difference in performance to the city’s contract with a Stanton waste-transfer station, CR Transfer Inc., which has separated residents’ trash since January. Commercial waste is handled by 15 independent haulers.
The city discontinued its curbside newspaper recycling program last year and began collecting newspapers and other recyclables with other trash, then hauling it to the CR Transfer plant. There, 21 workers along a processing line sort newspapers, cardboard, paper, glass, aluminum, metals and plastic.
The city recently doubled fees to residents, who now pay $1.54 a month for CR Transfer Inc. to recycle and dispose of waste.
Under a 10-year contract, CR Transfer must recover a minimum of 25% recyclable goods from the city’s trash. In May, 31%, or 932 tons, of the city’s residential trash was recycled. In June, the total dropped to 29%, or 831 tons.
To spur competition among haulers, the city did not include businesses in the program, but may reconsider that in the next six months.
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