City Delays Granting Recycling Franchises

The Thousand Oaks City Council has tabled a plan to allow only city-approved haulers to collect recyclables.

The action came after private recycling companies--some of which have been collecting aluminum cans, bottles and paper in Thousand Oaks for several years--argued that the city wanted to create a municipal monopoly that would drive them out of business.

Thousand Oaks officials, maintaining that the city needs to ensure itself a steady supply of recyclable goods for a planned city recycling center, had proposed restricting recycling contracts to the city’s three trash haulers.

The city plans to establish a facility in Newbury Park that will serve as a central sorting and transfer site for recyclable goods.

Mayor Frank Schillo, who chairs a committee that oversees solid waste issues, argued that allowing private recyclers to pick up and sell valuable paper and bottles could eventually hurt residents.

Residents now pay up to $14.60 a month for garbage collection, and officials have proposed a $2.50 per month fee to help pay for city recycling programs.

“If we could not get all the stuff that was profitable, then it’s going to directly increase the cost of residential pickup,” Schillo said.

Franchisees would have to use money earned from the sale of recycled products to reduce collection fees for the about 30,000 trash customers in the city, officials said.

Utilities director Don Nelson said franchises ensure that profitable items, such as cans and bottles, will be picked up as well as less profitable materials, such

as paper.

The proposal to restrict recycling to franchised businesses is the only controversial part of a trash-reduction program that the city has outlined.

The council on a 4-0 vote decided to approve most of the program, including making trash collection mandatory for all city residents and establishing a fee for recycling services.

Under state law, Thousand Oaks must reduce the trash that it dumps in landfills by 25% by 1995 and by 50% by the year 2000.

If it fails to comply, the city would be subject to fines of $10,000 a day.

The city generates 200,000 to 250,000 tons of trash each year, most of which goes to the dump, Nelson said.

Thousand Oaks has already reduced the volume of garbage that goes to county dumps by 17% through a residential curbside recycling program that began last year.

The program now includes only 9,000 homes, but in October, it will be expanded citywide for all business and residential customers.

Recyclers now operate freely in Thousand Oaks, collecting from homes and businesses through individual arrangements.

Wade Schlosser, president of Simi Valley Recycling Inc., which operates centers in Newbury Park and Simi Valley, said the plan “would inflict financial hardships on recycling centers.”

Schlosser said his company has collected paper and bottles from offices, schools, churches and restaurants for 10 years. The company generates $3 million in revenues each year, with 112 accounts in Thousand Oaks alone, he said. “We’ve got a lot to lose,” he said.

Trish Virgin, co-owner of a paper recycling company called Full Circle, said her business is small and ought to be able to operate even if franchises were granted to other companies.

Virgin’s company offers discounts on recycled paper products to businesses in return for their used paper.

“I don’t see where we would be a big infringement on a franchisee,” she said.

The city has agreed to review proposals from existing recyclers in September and then will make a decision on the franchises, officials said.

“I don’t want to put them out of business. There may be an arrangement where we can have them keep their accounts and pay a fee to the city,” Schillo said.