Southeast : Resident Proposes Measures to Council to Stop Scavengers

Norma Mower is sick of seeing people dig through her trash.

A longtime activist in her North Long Beach neighborhood, Mower has asked police what they can do to stop scavengers from taking the cans and bottles she saves for the city’s recycling program. Not much, they answered.

So Mower came up with some suggestions of her own, ideas so novel that the City Council recently sent them to a police advisory commission for further study.

Her proposal is based on regulations that now apply to junk dealers statewide: Every customer who turns in recyclable goods would have to present picture identification. She also asks that recycling centers be required to videotape customer transactions or face fines.

While the city does employ undercover police to cite scavengers who lift recyclables from the city’s purple curbside containers, many groups have voiced frustration at the lack of tighter controls.