HUNTINGTON BEACH : Company to Donate Trash Bins for Pier

City officials have found a way to provide custom-designed, graffiti-resistant trash receptacles for the new pier--and continually replace them--at no cost to the city.

The new pier opens Saturday, but the structure will be largely empty. Among the needs for it are heavy, sturdy trash bins for the public to use as they walk the 1,856-foot-long structure.

The city’s current budget did not allocate any money for trash bins. But a Huntington Beach manufacturer offered to sponsor the receptacles, and the City Council last week unanimously voted to accept the offer.

Under the agreement, the manufacturer, Simple Green, agreed to provide an initial 35 concrete trash containers and to replace them as they become worn or unsightly. In exchange, the company gets to put a Simple Green decal in an inset in one side of each bin.

Community Services Director Ron Hagan said the company’s donation filled a major need for the pier.

“The city budget did not contain funds for the purchase of concrete trash receptacles to be placed on the pier,” Hagan noted in a memo to the City Council. “The city needed 35 such receptacles to be located on the pier and to match the new receptacles purchase for the Main Street renovation project.”

Hagan said city staff members contacted Simple Green about sponsoring the receptacles, and the company “agreed enthusiastically.”

Hagan added that the company “is purchasing 35 trash receptacles and has agreed to replace seven receptacles per year in order that all will be replaced every five years, thus keeping quality, new trash receptacles on the pier at all times. Over the five-year period, this sponsorship will save the city $36,000 in costs.”

The concrete trash containers will weigh 800 pounds each, preventing them from being casually knocked around by vandals. The concrete surfaces of the containers will be sealed with an acrylic that resists markings and graffiti.