San Gabriel Valley : Firm to Pay City for Right to Recyclables

Pasadena plans to sign a contract next week with a private recycling company that offered to pay the city $84,298 a year for the privilege of collecting residents’ junk, city officials said.

The contract could save residents $1.05 in refuse services fees each month, said Jane Hinshaw, a public works supervisor in charge of recycling.

Perdomo and Sons Inc. won a contract bid in September when it offered to pick up cardboard boxes, tin, aluminum and plastics from residents’ recycling bins for free. The city paid $400,000 for curbside collection of 5,025 tons of recyclables last year, and Perdomo’s offer took Hinshaw by surprise.

“We expected the contract price would be lower, but not a zero bid,” she said.

The city also didn’t expect the Los Angeles company to pay for the work, but co-owner Sam Perdomo explained that the city’s cans and bottles are a gold mine in a booming industry.

Monthly household refuse services fees are expected to decrease from $1.50 to 45 cents. The fees will help pay for two new programs, including an aggressive anti-scavenger plan to increase the number of privately hired bin patrollers from two to four in neighborhoods where looting of recycling bins has posed a problem, Hinshaw said.