LOS ALAMITOS : Hike in Commercial Trash Fees to Vary

By BERT ELJERA

June 29, 1994 12 AM PT

Trash collection fees for Briggeman Disposal’s commercial customers will go up next month under a proposal unanimously approved by the City Council.

The increase, approved Monday, will vary by amount, depending on the size of the trash bins customers are using and how often the trash is picked up. Fees will range from $87.91 a month for two-cubic-yard trash bins picked up once a week to $406 for trash in four-cubic-yard bins collected six times a week.

About half of the company’s 615 commercial customers use three-cubic-yard bins, which are picked up once a week. They will see a $5 increase in their monthly bills to $99.93.

The new rates, which will take effect July 1, are intended to pay for the cost of a recycling program for commercial customers, officials said. There is no increase in residential rates.

George Briggeman, the company’s chief executive officer, said that the rate increase will help finance the estimated $150,000 his company will spend for using a material recovery facility.

The facility separates recyclable materials from those that go to landfills.

But he said the service is expensive. Consolidated Volume Transporters, which operates a recovery facility in Anaheim, charges $40 a ton for sorting the trash, twice the amount charged for disposing the trash in landfills.

Using the recovery facility would enable the city to comply with state law that requires cities to reduce the amount of trash dumped in landfills by 25% by 1995, according to Assistant City Manager Gerard Goedhart. By the year 2000, the state requires 50% diversion, Goedhart said.

Commercial users account for 75% of the trash the city generates, he said.

A voluntary commercial recycling program that began last year failed. Briggeman said just seven businesses took part in the program, accounting for only 6% of what the city recycles. He said residents recycle about 25% of their trash.

“We didn’t get the response we expected,” said Briggeman. “People felt it was not worth their time.”