STUDY MAKES FINE UNLIKELY RECYLING FIGURES HIGHER THAN THOUGHT.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - According to a study released Friday the city recycled 43.8 percent of its waste in 2000, but likely will not be fined for failing to reduce trash by 50 percent, as mandated by state law.

The lead state recycling agency inaccurately calculated that Santa Clarita's businesses and residents had recycled just 18 percent of its trash, the study found.

``We're well within striking distance of that 50-percent level,'' said Environmental Services Director Jill Fosselman. ``We've used conservative, solid numbers and we're confident that the data are accurate.''

The study, conducted by Long Beach-based SCS Engineers, will be submitted to the California Integrated Waste Management Board for approval this summer and is expected to be used as the basis of calculating how much trash the city diverts from area landfills in future years.

The state's calculations were faulty because of the intense population growth and development spurt in Santa Clarita over the past decade, the study found.

``Because of those massive changes, the problems were just compounding and getting worse year after year,'' Fosselman said.

After meeting the 50-percent mandate in 1997 and 1998, the city's level of recycling dropped to 33 percent in 1999, not only because of inaccurate calculations but also because of reporting errors at Chiquita Canyon Landfill and by Santa Clarita/Blue Barrel Disposal Co., Fosselman said.

The City Council has agreed to take a more active role in verifying the amount of trash recycled to prevent the problems at the landfill from recurring and Blue Barrel General Manager Karl McCarthy has said his company has taken a number steps to correct the mistakes.

The study ``reinvented the wheel'' by interviewing businesses, residents, employees of the two franchised trash haulers, independent trash companies and landfill employees about their trash generation and recycling, Fosselman said.

The study found that the city needs to do a better job of recycling commercial waste, including development and construction trash hauled by independent companies. The city must also institute a single-stream recycling program, which is in the works, Fosselman said.

``We now know where to focus our energy,'' Fosselman said.

Jeff Lambert, Santa Clarita's planning and building services director, said the city would ask the waste board for a one-year extension to comply with the state law mandating that local cities and counties recycle half of the amount of trash that was sent to landfills in 1990, if the board finds that the city did not comply with the law.

Or the board could declare that the city met the mandate because it has acted in good faith and instituted many of the required recycling programs.

``This is excellent news, and we're very pleased with the results of the study,'' Lambert said.

The City Council will discuss the study and its findings at a 4 p.m. Tuesday Study Session in City Hall's Council Chambers.

Also Tuesday, the council members will decide whether to sign already approved contracts with Blue Barrel and the city's other hauler Atlas/Consolidated Disposal Services, or solicit bids for the lucrative contracts from other companies.

An audit of the two haulers and the city's trash contracts found no evidence of fraud, mismanagement or criminal wrongdoing, according to Troy Dahlberg.

However, two council members have said that the audit did discover that McCarthy lied when he told the council the 50 percent state mandate had been met, even though he knew that the data compiled by the state showed that Santa Clarita had fallen short.

McCarthy has said he did not lie to the council, but believed that the mandate had been met or exceeded.