Recycling Oversight Lacking, Report Says

Los Angeles must have better oversight of its residential recycling programs to improve participation, though the San Fernando Valley currently leads the city with its performance, said an audit released Friday.

The audit, from City Controller Rick Tuttle, said the Bureau of Sanitation should improve oversight of its contracts with trash firms that handle recycling. About two-thirds of the city’s gross waste is handled by such companies, the report said.

Of five districts, the East Valley, with 139,594 households, had the highest rate of recycled materials per household with 47,485 tons. The West Valley, with 122,205 households, was second with 40,176 tons of recycled materials. The lowest rate of recycling was in the north and south central sections of the city, which have 286,119 households, but generated just 39,350 tons of recycled materials.

Those numbers primarily are for single-family homes, since the majority of apartments and businesses are excluded from city-controlled recycling programs, the audit said.