L.A. TRASH TO GO OUT OF TOWN?

Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer

Grappling for a way to close Sunshine Canyon Landfill and other urban dumps, a special committee created by Mayor James Hahn approved a strategy Thursday to send the city's trash out of town, toughen recycling rules and take other measures to squeeze operators' profits.

The committee is working to get its interim report to Hahn prior to the Nov. 5 election. Hahn has made closure of urban landfills a top priority within his administration.

Mary Edwards, a committee member and spokeswoman for the North Valley Coalition that has unsuccessfully fought to block expansion of Sunshine Canyon into the city, said the strategy now is to be ``pragmatic'' and to try to win smaller financial battles that will force landfills out of business.

``We're running a guerrilla war around the edges; we can't go in with a big battle,'' Edwards said.

The most controversial recommendation was to end the city's dumping of nearly 3,500 tons per day of refuse - that disposed of in the black trash cans - in landfills that are in or near the city after June 2006.

Bureau of Sanitation assistant director Enrique Zaldivar cautioned that the recommendation could be short-sighted, saying the city might not be able to come up with a reasonable alternative to all of its trash-disposal needs by then.

``Four years is very tight,'' Zaldivar said. ``I don't think four years is realistic.''

Others questioned whether taking the city's trash elsewhere would have any effect at all on Sunshine Canyon's business since its operators, Browning Ferris Industries of California, could accept trash from other customers under the deal approved by the City Council and former Mayor Richard Riordan.

BFI district manager Greg Loughnane said it didn't seem ``prudent'' for the city to arbitrarily limit its disposal options for 2006 now without first considering the cost to the city's businesses and residents.

He also said there is plenty of demand for landfill space, without the city's business. Under the contract that expires June 30, 2006, the city has the option for three, five-year extensions.

``When you're fully permitted, you can accept trash from any place,'' Loughnane said.

Sunshine Canyon does have plans for a recycling center, too, he said.

Bradley Landfill and Recycling Center in Sun Valley, which doesn't have a contract with the city but has sought additional landfill capacity, notified the committee it intends by 2007 to become a recycling and transfer hub to ship trash out of town.

Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook said he hadn't reviewed the specifics, but that the city would find ways to deal with its refuse as landfills close.

``We'll find ways ... that won't leave the city in the lurch,'' Middlebrook said.

Middlebrook said the committee's recommendations would be carefully reviewed.

``If it's a sound way to get the city to its ultimate goal of eliminating landfills in the city we need to look at it,'' he said.

Committee members said they were attempting to balance what was feasible with the mayor's goal of phasing out urban landfills by offering alternatives compatible with existing technologies and financial realities.

Committee chairman Rick Greenwood, an adjunct public health professor at UCLA, said that while the ultimate goal is to close the city's landfills, the committee wanted to make recommendations that were ``economically sound.''

Committee members emphasized beefing up the city's recycling requirements, including a recommendation that would require that trash be taken first to a recycling, or materials recovery, facility. Financial incentives were also recommended to squeeze out as many recyclables as possible.

Committee members also urged sanitation officials to consider new technologies, but some balked at constructing a waste-to-energy plant similar to the one that's been operating in Long Beach for years.

Zaldivar said the department wants to move as quickly as possible, but would like to take some time to study emerging technologies, too.

But committee members who have lived near landfills for decades said the city's bureaucracy needs to get moving with greater urgency.

``Sanitation has always dragged their feet,'' Edwards said.

The committee also suggested other technologies, such as an ``anaerobic digester'' to create green power or compost from food wastes and possibly sewer sludge, and using gasification technology to create ethanol from other wastes, which could be used in city vehicles.

The committee said what remains of L.A.'s trash should be hauled by rail to more distant landfills.

The committee said it intends to complete the interim draft before the election.

``I hope it would persuade people the city's really making an effort and that it wasn't just for show,'' Edwards said.