OXNARD : City Weighs Pact for Recycling Facility

The Oxnard City Council on Tuesday will consider paying a refuse company $5 million in 1996 to manage the construction of a $25-million, city-owned trash center and operate the facility once it is completed.

The materials-recovery and waste-transfer facility, to be known as the Del Norte Regional Recycling and Transfer Station, would be located on 16 1/2 acres at the southwest corner of Del Norte Boulevard and Sturgis Road.

Construction is expected to begin in July, and the facility is expected to open a year later.

The contract with BLT Enterprises of Oxnard Inc. would expire in 2015.

The annual fee the city would pay the company would vary depending on the tonnage of trash received, according to a city report.

Oxnard has been working on a materials-recovery facility since 1992.

The primary goal of the center would be to provide a waste-transfer location once Bailard Landfill closes, which is expected to occur next year.

Another goal is to reduce the amount of trash Oxnard sends to landfills so that the city can comply with a state law requiring that cities divert 25% of their trash from landfills by 1995 and 50% by 2000.

The agreement would guarantee that at least 18% of the trash taken to the center would be recovered and recycled.

Financial incentives would encourage BLT to recycle as much as possible and get rid of the remaining waste as cheaply as possible.

BLT representatives could not be reached for comment.

The company has said it would try to lure other cities into sending trash to the Oxnard center, but stressed that the facility could survive economically with Oxnard trash alone.

Gold Coast Recycling of Ventura was also planning to build a materials-recovery facility in western Ventura County.

But the company was recently purchased by members of the Harrison family, owners of E. J. Harrison & Sons, a large trash hauler, and the future of the facility is uncertain.