Man files claim for his recyclables

A Costa Mesa homeless man who has filed a claim against the city of Newport Beach doesn’t want any monetary compensation after aluminum cans and other recyclables he had collected were snatched from a local beach.

He just wants a note from a police officer stating he can comb through trash cans for plastic and glass.

Eugene Edward Howard III filed a claim last week that three Newport Beach Police officers were called to the front steps of City Hall, 3300 Newport Blvd., on Oct. 19 to help him find eight bags of recyclable materials he had left on a local beach that vanished.

The officers called to the scene told Howard it was illegal for him to take bottles and cans out of garbage cans in Newport Beach and that he could be ticketed for picking through the trash.

Howard claims the Police Department previously told him he could take recyclable items out of the garbage cans of Newport Beach residents, as long as the trash had been placed out on the curb for collection.

“I have not been able to collect recyclables for three weeks for fear of being ticketed,” Howard wrote in his claim. “The police will not write me a note to let any police officer who stops me from recycling [know] that I can legally recycle out of the residents of Newport Beach’s trash when the trash cans are put out for pick up.”

Filing a claim is the first step someone must take before suing the city.

A cell-phone number Howard wrote in his claim was not accepting calls Wednesday. In his claim, Howard listed Lighthouse Ministry & Outreach in Costa Mesa as his home address.

A Westside Costa Mesa nonprofit, Lighthouse provides showers, hot meals and Bible study sessions to the area homeless population. A message left for Howard at Lighthouse was not immediately returned Wednesday.

The Newport Beach city attorney’s office is still reviewing Howard’s claim and hasn’t taken any action on it, said city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan.

Howard doesn’t have the legal right to collect cans and other recyclable material from Newport trash cans, according to Newport’s municipal codes.

“All refuse, garbage, cuttings or recyclables which are placed in the vicinity of any curb or alley for collection purposes shall become the property of the city of Newport Beach,” according to city codes.

The code adds that no one except city employees or contracted sanitation workers can remove garbage or recyclables from any where in the city.