Recycled Plastic Bottles to Line Dump

In a move to make use of thousands of discarded plastic bottles collected by the city’s recycling program, Los Angeles officials have directed a private contractor to use them in making a protective liner under the Lopez Canyon dump above Lake View Terrace.

The project to protect ground water beneath the dump will absorb about 800,000--or a five-week supply--of the two-liter beverage containers that the city Bureau of Sanitation collects in its residential curbside recycling program, said Gyl Elliott, public information director for the bureau’s recycling and waste reduction division.

The arrangement reflects a continuing quest to find adequate markets for a flood of recyclable materials, which has been the Achilles heel of recycling programs. Elliott said low demand for plastic bottles has been a particular headache, contributing to the low bulk price of $12 per ton that the city is paid for all materials collected in the curbside program.

Although the liner construction will make only a small dent in the mountain of discarded plastic containers, Elliott said the project “helps to promote markets for material, and it helps people to see and understand that the stuff they’re throwing away can turn into something valuable.”

Curbside recycling is a centerpiece of local efforts to comply with a state law requiring a 25% reduction in landfill dumping by mid-1995.

Under a program currently being implemented in stages, the city now collects recyclables from 440,000 of the 720,000 Los Angeles households that are eventually to be covered--including nearly 200,000 of the 268,000 San Fernando Valley households, Elliott said.

The plastic bottles will be ground up and used to make a fabric-like cushion for the liner system to be installed as part of the expansion of the city’s Lopez Canyon dump.

The city Board of Public Works earlier this month gave Sukut Construction Inc., an Orange County engineering and construction firm, a $3.6-million contract to install the multi-layer liner, which is meant to protect underground water from polluted seepage.

The liner system includes a clay base topped by a layer of plastic sheeting and layer of gravel. The plastic bottles will be used to make a fabric-like liner cushion, or “geotextile,” aimed at preventing the gravel from puncturing the layer of plastic, said Sukut project manager Jerry Pabbruwee.

This will not be the first or even largest use of plastic beverage containers in a liner cushion, said Pabbruwee, adding that his firm recently installed one in Orange County made of 4 million beverage containers.

Because demand for clear bottles is greatest, Pabbruwee said the liner cushion will be fashioned from harder-to-peddle green-tinted containers.

City officials approved the Lopez dump expansion in 1991. Installation of the liner is scheduled to start next month and to be completed by next March.

In a related recycling project, officials said the city is using construction debris and asphalt to build a new haul road at the dump.

The glut of recyclables and the search for markets is expected to intensify as Los Angeles and other communities expand their curbside recycling programs .