The dirty business of trash collection may soon be getting cleaner in Los Angeles.
Supporters of the Zero Waste LA system said Thursday they are eagerly anticipating the Los Angeles’ City Council’s upcoming vote on Friday to finalize waste hauling contracts aimed at improving environmental standards for trash collection.
The Zero Waste LA system calls for seven companies to handle an estimated $3.5 billion in commercial waste hauling in Los Angeles, and each of the companies would be assigned as the sole trash hauler for commercial sites and multi-family complexes in one or more of the city’s 11 zones.
To earn a 10-year contract with the city set to begin in July, the waste hauling companies must meet specific environmental and employment standards. The goal, supporters say, is to increase recycling, reduce air pollution from truck traffic and increase environmentally friendly job opportunities.
“Winning a waste franchise zone guarantees haulers 10 years of business in the very lucrative L.A. market, thus providing them with an incentive to deploy less polluting trash trucks, end dependence on landfills, and develop good jobs in the state-of-the-art green infrastructure needed to sort and process new waste streams,” said Linda Escalante of the Natural Resources Defense Council in September.
The recommended franchise rights awards went to:
— Athens, which would have the largest share of the customers with
21,864 accounts in West Los Angeles, Harbor and North Central zones;
— Republic Services, which would handle 16,820 accounts in the
Northeast Valley and South Los Angeles zones;
— Waste Management, which would have 15,526 accounts in the West Valley
and Southeast Valley zones;
— UWS, or Universal Waste Systems, with 6,106 accounts in the Northeast
zone;
— NASA Services, which would get 1,771 customers in the Downtown zone;
— Ware Disposal, which would cover 1,817 customers in the Southeast
zone; and
— CalMet Services, which is assigned to 1,013 accounts in the East Downtown zone.
–City News Service