Waste Management Wins Contract

IRVINE — Waste Management of California Inc. said Wednesday that it has won a seven-year contract worth up to $28 million from the city of Long Beach to pick up recyclable newspapers, aluminum cans, bottles, plastics and cardboard.

Waste Management’s Irvine office outbid two other garbage haulers to win the contract, which is worth $3.5 million to $4 million a year and carries two one-year options.

The West Coast subsidiary of giant Waste Management Inc. outside of Chicago will provide bins for recyclable bottles and cans to about 125,000 Long Beach households starting early next year. Residents will pay $2.65 a month to the city regardless of whether they use the curbside service. The fees will be shared by the city and company.

Stu Clark, the company’s West Coast director of recycling, said the Long Beach contract represents one of the biggest recycling programs in the nation. Among more unusual items to be picked up are corrugated cardboard and mixed plastics--from bottles to shopping bags.

A state law requires California cities to recycle a quarter of their waste by 1995 and half by 2000. The Waste Management contract is only for recyclables; the city’s own garbage trucks will continue to haul most trash.