Ventura to Consider Revamping Recycling Contract

In a bid to increase the quantity of recyclable trash collected from Ventura residents, the City Council plans tonight to consider revamping its contract with its recycling contractor.

E.J. Harrison & Sons Inc. has been falling short of its quota for recyclable trash, and forced to pay hefty fines for failing to meet the city’s contract requirements, said Terry Adelman, city finance director.

The current contract requires the hauler to bring in 125 tons per day of recyclable trash and, when it falls short, to pay the value of uncollected recycling materials to the Gold Coast Recycling Center.

Harrison & Sons has been bringing in little more than 50 tons per day and has been paying a penalty, said Assistant City Manager Steve Chase. The hauler has been paying an average of $60,700 per month since the program began in July for so-called “empty tons,” to sustain the recycling center, Chase said.

George Harrison, the company’s recycling coordinator, said Harrison & Sons has not met its quotas because tonnage requirements were set too high and scavengers steal recyclable trash before the company has a chance to pick it up.

“We’re probably losing $30,000, $40,000 a month” on recycling, Harrison said Friday. “I think a lot of people are into it, but maybe our goals were set too high.”

Although Ventura residents are enthusiastically filling their recycling bins, the contractor also loses a considerable amount to trash-pickers, Harrison said.

Every night, people take cardboard refuse from the recycling bins outside Ventura bike shops, and glass bottles from bins outside the city’s nightclubs, he said. These scavengers then sell the glass and cardboard to recycling centers, Harrison said.

Especially when people pilfer glass--the heaviest recyclable material collected by Harrison--the company’s tonnage decreases and it has to pay more to meet its contractual obligations, he said.

The contract proposal before the council tonight would allow Harrison to include recyclable trash collected from other cities it serves, such as Thousand Oaks, Camarillo and Ojai. The current contract requires Harrison & Sons to produce 125 tons of recyclables per day from Ventura alone.

The proposal would also set new, gradually increasing monthly quotas as an incentive for Harrison & Sons to encourage Ventura residents to leave more recyclables by the curb, Adelman said.

If the company meets new quotas of 51 tons per day in March, 52 tons a day in April, 54 in May and 57 in June, it would be allowed to pay less for not meeting the 125-ton-per-day quota, Adelman said.

Even if the contract proposal is approved, the city’s goals will remain in place, officials said. The contract will call for Harrison to encourage businesses to put out material that is at least 70% recyclable, and residents to fill their bins with at least 85% recyclable material.

“We’re attempting to break the bonds of landfill dependency,” said Chase. He said the city will not spend money or allow rate hikes to keep the recycling program working.

Over the long run, the city hopes to use any profits from the sale of recyclable materials to pay the costs of sustaining Gold Coast Recycling, and reduce customers’ rates, if possible.

“The Harrison brothers are truly committed to recycling . . . They recognize that landfill space is becoming a premium and the wave of the future is recycling,” Chase said. “The rates will not be increased because of Harrison’s inability to meet 125 tons per day, nor will we bail Harrison out.”