City Officials Fail to Hire Trash Recyclers

In a blow to the city’s recycling effort, Los Angeles sanitation officials said Monday that they have failed to find a qualified firm to separate recyclables from trash going into two San Fernando Valley landfills.

The two firms that sought a city contract to separate recyclables from trash do not meet the city’s policies for hiring minorities and women and are too expensive, Carl Haase, the city’s assistant manager for recycling and planning, told a City Council committee.

The Bradley Landfill in Sun Valley currently takes most of the city’s garbage, but Sunshine Canyon Landfill near Granada Hills is expected to reopen next month to accept half of the trash.

In an effort to reduce trash costs, city sanitation officials requested bids in April from companies interested in a contract to separate the recyclables.

City studies have shown that between 30% and 40% of the trash going to city dumps can be recycled, Haase said.

The city contract required the firms to process at least 100 tons of trash a day and separate out 20% of the trash for recycling.

But the two firms offered to do the job for $55 per ton, a price that Haase said is too high.

He said it will be up to the Public Works Commission to decide whether to seek new bids for the contract.

In a related matter, Haase told the council’s Environmental Quality and Waste Management Committee that the process for completely covering Lopez Canyon Landfill in Lake View Terrace is on schedule and should be completed in July 2000.

Lopez Canyon was the last city-owned dump until it stopped accepting trash deliveries July 2.