Trash Imports Profit County--at a Cost

Wally Bublitz sees Orange County’s bankruptcy recovery roll by his house every morning--22 tons of San Diego County trash at a time hauled on double trailers up Ortega Highway to the nearby landfill.

Bublitz and other San Juan Capistrano residents who live along the highway can also hear, smell and feel the recovery. And they do not like the experience.

After Orange County went bankrupt in December 1994, county supervisors voted to import trash into the three county-owned landfills to pump up revenue. Since importation began in 1995, $88.5 million has been raised from other counties’ trash.

At the time it was a quick--albeit messy--way to pull in millions of needed dollars. They were desperate days, and as county leaders pondered the extremes--everything from selling off John Wayne Airport to closing down libraries--the idea of coaxing out-of-county trash haulers to bring their rubbish to Orange County sounded pragmatic and lucrative.

But, as the years have proven, the out-of-county trash has arrived at a cost. Local trash haulers complain of paying higher rates than outsiders.

Residents like Bublitz and his neighbors complain of more trucks and trailers rumbling through their neighborhood, beginning at dawn, spewing diesel fumes and rattling windows. Since 1996, San Juan Capistrano has given about 70 homeowners along Ortega Highway $5,280 each for the purchase of sound-proof windows.

“The noise is exceedingly irritating, especially when the trucks hit the brakes. You can hear the screech, loud and piercing,” said Bublitz. “The soot from the diesel exhaust gets on everything in your patio. People have to rinse off their patio furniture every day.”

Waste is imported six days a week from Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties by four contractors at cut-rate fees. The so-called “tipping fee” for imported trash is $19.33 per ton. Local haulers pay $22 per ton for Orange County refuse. Homeowners and contractors pay roughly $27 per ton.

Judy Ware, owner of Santa Ana-based Ware Disposal, said the cheaper rates charged for out-of-county trash “amounts to nothing more than a subsidy for the haulers contracted to bring it in.”

“It’s unfair. How can I compete with a government subsidy? It’s also unfair to our consumers, who are forced to pay higher rates,” Ware said.

While rates for local haulers have decreased in recent years to keep them in line with the cheaper fees for imported trash, that has not placated local refuse firms.

In the last two years, about a quarter of the trash dumped in local landfills was imported, according to figures provided by the county’s Integrated Waste Management Department.

Because of its proximity to Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the Olinda Alpha landfill near Brea gets most of the imported waste. Last year, about 35%--2,173 tons--of the refuse trucked daily to Olinda Alpha came from the three counties.

In the same year, the Prima Deshecha landfill outside San Juan Capistrano got 32%--695 tons--of its daily trash from San Diego County. In 1998, San Diego County trash accounted for 40% of the waste at Prima Deshecha and 43% the year before, according to county figures.

At the Frank R. Bowerman landfill near Irvine, imported trash made up 8%--527 tons--of the waste dumped there every day in 1999.

In all, about 3,400 tons of rubbish is trucked into Orange County and dumped every day.

Michelle Deconinck, spokeswoman for the county waste management department, said Irvine, Brea and San Juan Capistrano are paid “host” fees to make up for the inconvenience of the incoming trash.

Since 1995, Brea has received $2.2 million, Irvine has been paid almost $913,000 and San Juan Capistrano received about $763,000.

Doug Dumhart, a city analyst in San Juan Capistrano, said the flow of trash has caused headaches for the city. Residents complain about noise, pollution and the worsening congestion on Ortega Highway.

There is only one way in and one way out of the Prima Deshecha landfill, and the trucks arrive early.

“Imagine getting up at 6:30 a.m. and having trucks rattling your windows. All in the name of bankruptcy recovery. The irony is that San Juan Capistrano is the only city that didn’t invest in the county pool that went bankrupt,” Dumhart said.

Most days some 55 trucks, the majority pulling double trailers, drive up the two-lane Ortega Highway to the landfill and back.

“If I had a choice to get all the landfill trucks off the street I’d do that in a heartbeat,” Brea City Manager Tim O’Donnell said. Brea officials are considering building an offramp and road that would go directly from the Orange Freeway to the landfill off Carbon Canyon Road.

O’Donnell said Brea has used some of the money received from the host fees to build sound walls along Imperial Highway “to shield residents from the noise.”

Despite protests from local haulers that local trash fees are too high, O’Donnell said there has been a financial upside. Because the county needed to offer bargain rates to attract outside haulers, local fees have followed suit, dropping steadily.

In 1996, dumping fees for Orange County-generated trash were $35 and later reduced to $27. Under the importation agreement, the local fee was reduced to $22 for contract haulers through 2005, said O’Donnell.

“The average resident doesn’t recognize that their trash fee is being supported by importation,” he said.

Still, local haulers point out, the fee they are charged is still higher than it is for haulers from elsewhere.

Waste management officials said the limit per day at the Olinda Alpha landfill is 8,000 tons. Because of the importers’ heavy reliance on the landfill, O’Donnell said it closes early when the tonnage capacity is met.

The daily limit at the Bowerman landfill is 8,500 tons, and at Prima Deshecha, 4,000 tons.

Waste management spokeswoman Deconinck acknowledged that some landfills close early when daily limits are met but explained that trucks are diverted to other facilities.

Ware and Madelene E. Arakelian, owner of South Coast Refuse, said the combination of diverted vehicles and the sheer number of trucks and trailers hauling imported trash result in long lines at some landfills at the end of the day, costing their companies thousands in overtime pay for drivers.

“The county never thought about the impact on us smaller contractors when they dreamed up their importation scheme,” Arakelian said. “The lines at the landfills are getting longer, and this started with importation.

“My drivers get there at 4 p.m. and can’t get out until 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. You can’t do anything else but wait there, because we need empty trucks for the next day. Some days I have five trucks waiting in line, and the drivers have to be paid while they’re sitting inside the trucks. These aren’t costs that I can pass on to the customer.”

Arakelian’s company has 20 trucks, and Ware’s company has 30. Both do commercial hauling.

Orange County’s importation plan “has discriminated against my company in another, worse way,” Ware said. Her company also hauls trash in San Diego County but is not allowed to dump it at the Prima Deshecha landfill at $19.33 per ton.

Instead, Ware’s San Diego trucks have to use one of five landfills in San Diego County--four of which are privately owned--and pay $39 per ton.

The only haulers authorized to bring out-of-county trash to local landfills are Burtec/EDCO, Waste Management, Taormina Industries and Sanitation District No. 2 of Los Angeles County.

Neil Mohr,general manager of the San Diego Landfill Systems, owned by Allied Signal, said Orange County’s low importation fees have had a financial impact on his company as well. The firm owns four landfills and charges between $25 and $45 per ton for dumping.

“I understand why Orange County did that. They needed cash. We tried to lower our fee, but I don’t see us going down to $19 per ton. We can’t compete at that level. The bottom line is that Orange County is taking business away that should be coming to the San Diego landfills,” he said.

Ware and Arakelian contend the Orange County landfills’ life spans are being shortened because of importation. However, local and state officials dispute that, saying mandatory recycling is reducing the amount of trash heading to the dump.

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Trash Imports

In 1995, Orange County began accepting trash from outside the county in part to help recoup losses from the bankruptcy.

Sources: Orange County Integrated Waste Management Department, Times reports