SIX VYING TO GET RID OF TRASH GARBAGE-HAULING DEAL COULD BE WORTH MILLIONS.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Six firms, including three large trash conglomerates, submitted proposals on Monday for Santa Clarita's lucrative trash contracts, city officials said.

The contracts represent millions of dollars in profits annually and a decade of financial security for the winning hauler or haulers.

City officials are expected to make the details of the proposals available to the public later this week, according to Jason Smisko, interim environmental services manager.

The city's current haulers, Santa Clarita/Blue Barrel Disposal Co. and Atlas/Consolidated Disposal Service, are vying for the residential and commercial contracts and want to expand their businesses in the booming Santa Clarita Valley. Browning Ferris Industries, which owns Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills, is also in the competition.

BFI and the owners of Atlas and Blue Barrel are the three largest trash firms in the nation.

Atlas' parent company, Republic Services, owns Chiquita Canyon Landfill, the only dump in the Santa Clarita Valley. Most landfill operators give discounts to affiliates to dump trash, which could allow Atlas to charge residents less than other companies.

BFI owns Sunshine Canyon Landfill in Granada Hills, and Blue Barrel's parent company, Waste Management, owns two dumps in Antelope Valley.

The huge trash conglomerates can reduce costs because they often own everything from the plants that process recycled goods to the landfills where remaining waste is ultimately buried, according to analysts.

Mayor Cameron Smyth said the City Council will select the best combination of price and service in an effort to increase the amount of waste recycled and to reduce the $22.13 monthly rate - among the highest rates in Los Angeles County - that city residents pay for trash pickup.

The contracts call for a flat rate for residential trash pickup and recycling services, with a $10 charge for each extra refuse bin. If the same company is awarded both the commercial and residential contracts, an across-the-board rate discount would be implemented.

Bidders include Crown Disposal Co., which owns a materials recovery facility in Sun Valley and serves the city of San Fernando, according to company officials.

Two other small companies that also bid for the contracts are E.J. Harrison and Son, which serves most of Ventura County and parts of Santa Barbara County, and Fontana-based Burrtec Waste Industries, which serves a number of cities in the San Gabriel Valley and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County.

The City Council is expected to sign a seven-year deal for residential service, to begin in 2006, and a nine-year deal for commercial service, to begin next year, so both contracts will end at the same time. Each year of the contracts could be worth as much as $13.5 million, officials said.

The council subcommittee on solid waste - Councilwomen Laurene Weste and Marsha McLean, along with city staff members and consultants - is expected to make a recommendation in August to the full City Council.

The new plan also expands the council's power to audit Santa Clarita's haulers while requiring them to pay thousands of dollars in fees to encourage recycling, especially in the commercial sector.

The contracts will set tough penalties for haulers if Santa Clarita's recycling rates do not quickly reach the goal, required by state law, of reducing waste sent to landfills by 50 percent from 1990 levels. The contracts also will require progress toward the city's self-imposed goal of a 75 percent reduction. In 2001, Santa Clarita recycled just 39 percent, according to preliminary data compiled by the California Integrated Waste Management Board.