NEWPORT BEACH : City Wants to Alter Toxic Waste Program

Tired of chipping in $300,000 a year to a county hazardous-waste collection program used by less than 1% of the city’s residents, Newport Beach officials have proposed a program under which residents could drop off household wastes on specified collection days.

The city could publicize and oversee the collection of the materials, while the county would simply dispose of them, said Newport Beach General Services Director David Niederhaus.

The city’s request stems from figures showing that only 632 Newport Beach residents traveled to county hazardous-waste disposal sites in Huntington Beach, Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano last year to get rid of paints, chemical cleaners and other hazardous household waste.

Meanwhile, the city pays more than $300,000 annually in landfill surcharges to help run the county program. And city trash collectors continue to find, and be endangered by, toxic materials dumped in garbage cans and storm drains, Niederhaus said.

City employees are constantly being overcome by toxic fumes from the trash, Niederhaus said. “We want to make it easier and more convenient for residents, so it doesn’t end up in a landfill or in a man’s face or in the storm drain,” he said.

Newport Beach officials have also suggested that neighboring cities could get together to host a joint collection day and share the costs.

County officials are reviewing the idea of re-establishing hazardous waste “roundups,” but have raised concerns about the high costs involved, according to Jan Goss, recycling and materials recovery manager for the county Integrated Waste Management Department.

The periodic collection days cost almost double the daily cost of running the three permanent disposal stations because of strict state requirements for handling hazardous materials, Goss said.

“The issue here is cost,” she said. “And maybe it’s less convenient for people to drive, but when you have a one-day roundup, people are waiting in a line all day.”