City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz told the Council it recently amended the code governing the issue, which has been dealt with in “bits and pieces” for a year or more. Gonzales said he hoped more enforcement would be put into effect, as a “person pushing a shopping cart down the street” might not appear to have much of an impact, but such actions add up to a considerable loss.Bobkiewicz said the value also offsets rates to the ratepayers, as there is “less money it’s bringing in to solid waste enterprise.”“Dumpster diving and trash cans, I don’t see that as a big issue here,” as there are few regulars, said Councilman Ray Luna. Bobkiewicz said he had notified the Santa Paula Police Department that same morning to report the theft of recyclables, and if officers are not responding to another call they investigate.“It’s tragic to see people reduced to diving into trash cans to get something that helps them” exist, said Councilman Dr. Gabino Aguirre. “I agree, I don’t see it as a problem.”Vice Mayor Ralph Fernandez agreed he does not consider dumpster diving a “major crime, it’s people trying to survive; there’s nothing new going on.”Nan Drake of Harrison Industries told the Council that scavenging is common throughout Ventura County, and those taking recyclables are not limited to individuals, but also include organized groups from Los Angeles. “People who are organized to make you fail” meeting state mandated landfill diversion guidelines, she added, are not “the ones you want to encourage.”
City Council: SP targeting non-compliant recyclers and thefts from bins
October 22, 2008
Santa Paula City Council
The city is targeting recycling operations that are not reporting diversion numbers as well as the theft of recyclable materials from trash containers, the City Council learned at the October 6 meeting.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe city is targeting recycling operations that are not reporting diversion numbers as well as the theft of recyclable materials from trash containers, the City Council learned at the October 6 meeting. The issue came up during a discussion on the recycling track record of the city’s two franchise haulers, who handle commercial and multi-family unit accounts.Although Interim Public Works Director Jon Turner told the Council the city’s new self-haul permit program has shown a “drastic improvement” in counts credited to the city, Mayor Bob Gonzales asked if the city also receives credit for city-based recycling operations.Three of the five enterprises “simply don’t” file reports, said City Attorney Karl Berger, and are out of compliance with “several different laws.”Later Gonzales noted, “We have a group of people in the community who go through trash cans and take recyclables out,” and if they use a non-compliant recycler “we loose” recycling credits mandated by the state. “My understanding is that trash in the trashcans is privately owned, so people that walk by can’t take it out,” said Gonzales. “Is that correct?”“What the law says and what people do” is often not the same, said Berger, who noted the content of trash bins is transferred to the city once the bin is placed at the city. “Then they are breaking the law,” said Gonzales.
