Hauler to Separate Recyclable Items From Fullerton Trash

FULLERTON —  When the city launches its recycling program next year, residents won’t need bins of different colors and long lists of instructions on how to separate their soda cans, newspapers and beer bottles. The trash company will do all of the sorting for them.

The City Council unanimously approved plans at its last meeting to launch a recycling program in which trash will be picked up from residents just as it always has been. The waste will be brought to a collection facility, where workers will sort through the trash and save the recyclables.

“Our approach is more flexible and will allow us to capture more of the waste stream,” said Chris Meyer, the assistant to the city manager who is spearheading efforts to develop the program. “This allows us to respond to the market.”

Several neighboring cities, including Placentia, Yorba Linda and Anaheim, already have curbside recycling programs in which residents and businesses are given separate bins and asked to sort recyclables themselves.

Consultants from Cal State Fullerton’s Environmental Institute say Fullerton’s plan will cost residents 50 cents more a month than a curbside program.

For example, Meyer said, if film plastic becomes marketable, “we just tell the worker at the (collection facility) to take film plastic out of the trash.”

Still, those who already recycle on their own will be encouraged to continue doing so, he said.

The city’s program will require finding a collection site that can process about 160,000 tons of trash a year. Meyer said the city is considering building a new, $10-million collection facility rather than hauling trash to existing sites in Anaheim or Stanton.

He added that the private sector--perhaps MG Disposal, Fullerton’s current waste hauler--will pick up the tab for the new facility. He said a company could make its money back by the sale of recyclable materials and charging cities for the use of the facility, which would be factored into consumers’ monthly bills.

By contrast, many cities with curbside recycling programs have had to pay the cost of barrels and special vehicles to help haulers start the program, Meyer said. Consultants estimated that Fullerton would have had to pay $4.5 million for bins and trucks if it had chosen a curbside program.

Hauling waste out of town would be more expensive because of higher transportation costs, Meyer said. To pay for the new program, monthly waste collection fees for residents are expected to rise by $2.07 if a facility is placed in Fullerton, while the rates will go up $3.95 a month if trash is hauled to Anaheim and $4.65 a month if it is hauled to Stanton, he said. Residents now pay $9.55 a month.

The recycling program will be launched in about 14 months.

A state law requires all cities to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills by 25% in 1995 and 50% in the year 2000.