Southeast / Long Beach : Recycling Center Given Warning

Long Beach has put a controversial recycling center on notice: Clean up your act or you may be shut down.

PCH Recycling, located at 101 E. Pacific Coast Highway, could have its operating permit revoked if it continues to accept recyclables delivered by shopping carts. Also, the facility has been ordered to reduce unpleasant odors and cut operating hours by four hours each day.

The city was responding to complaints from residents, said Bob Benard, city zoning officer. Community groups have complained that many of the recycling center’s customers sort through residents’ garbage cans searching for recyclables to be turned in for cash.

The facility’s operators have worked to appease residents by adding new landscaping to the center and by cleaning the grounds regularly, but the facility “continues to generate nuisances with respect to odors . . . and the activities of [its] patrons,” according to Benard’s Oct. 3 letter to the center.

City officials could schedule a hearing on whether to close the facility if the center does not adhere to the new restrictions by Nov. 3.

Owners of PCH Recycling, which opened in 1989 as the city’s first recycling center, could not be reached for comment. However, facility supervisor Gary Lane said last month he has tried to respond to neighbors’ concerns by employing a full-time worker to clean the area regularly