The Region - News from May 27, 1987

Saying that Los Angeles is running out of places to dump its garbage, the City Council ordered the drafting of a plan that could require homeowners to separate recyclable items from the rest of their trash. The proposal could require that trash be placed in as many as four separate receptacles. By a unanimous vote, the council directed the Bureau of Sanitation to devise a plan that would apply to all single-family homeowners, most of whom have trash picked up by city trucks. The motion also orders the bureau to investigate whether it can force private refuse haulers, who serve most apartment and condominium complexes and almost all businesses and industries in the city, to also separate recyclable materials from other trash. Council members acknowledged that there could be an outcry against mandatory trash separation. But several said that recycling is needed because the city is running out of dump sites.