Bonuses Weighed for Aiding Recycling

Los Angeles trash truck drivers may soon receive cash incentives to persuade residents to recycle more, thus reducing how much the city spends dumping refuse in landfills.

To do the job right, truck drivers would need to spend some free time--even days off--going door to door and educating people about the benefits of recycling, said Councilman Marvin Braude, who introduced the proposal Tuesday.

“Everyone wins under my proposal,” said Braude, who heads the council’s Waste Management Committee. “Drivers win because their take-home pay increases. The Bureau of Sanitation wins because it gets additional tools with which to do a better management job.”

The proposal is the latest effort to increase recycling in Los Angeles. The city currently recycles 33% of its trash, most of which comes from yard trimmings. Only 6% comes from aluminum cans, glass and newsprint.

In total, the city dumps about 3,500 tons of refuse per day at a cost of about $35 per ton. But the city earns about $35 for every ton of recyclables that are collected and sold to recycling firms.

Under Braude’s plan, the truck drivers would get to keep half of the savings they make for the city by reducing the amount of trash that ends up in dumps.

The 7,000 city trash truck drivers, who earn up to $40,000 a year, would get to split the bonuses evenly. Braude estimated that if drivers save the city 10% next year on landfill costs, that could amount to about $1,000 in bonuses for each driver.

Trash truck drivers like the sound of that.

David Trowbridge, general manager of the Service Employees International Union, local 347, which represents trash workers, said: “In general, we like the concept. We feel very comfortable in going forward and reaching out to the public.”

Trowbridge said the drivers would be willing to invest some of their free time to promote recycling. He suggested truck drivers also might talk to children at elementary schools about recycling.

“Whatever we can do to get citizens [to] recycle more. . . . It’s better for the environment and it saves the city money,” he said.

Delwin A. Biagi, head of the city’s Sanitation Department, also applauded the idea, saying his workers are looking forward to earning the bonuses.

Braude instructed sanitation officials to return to his committee in 90 days with a report on ways to implement the program. Barring any hitches, Braude said the incentive program could begin in four or five months.