Plans for city trash may include bringing in more
CITY YARDS — Talk that the city’s waste disposal and management is a cut and dry matter... well, that’s rubbish.
City staff has issued a request for proposals from a host of private companies, and the city’s own Solid Waste Management Division (SWMD), to see who will be in charge of collecting and disposing all of the city’s trash, and possibly other cities’ trash as well, over the next 15 years.
Under the four options on the table, a private company or city sanitation workers could be responsible for building a new, state-of-the-art transfer station at the City Yards, located just off Cloverfield Boulevard near Interstate 10. Another option would be closing the facility down completely and transferring all trash and recy-clables to another location within Santa Monica or at a site outside the city.
That could mean a host of things for residents and businesses, including new rates for trash pickup as well as an increased amount of garbage making its way into the city from other municipalities.
The City Council’s goals are to equalize rates instead of having residents subsidize commercial collections; keep the city “clean and green;” increase recycling; minimize impacts on the community and environment by improving efficiency; and enter into long-term contracts for secure arrangements and predictable costs.
One thing is for certain, whatever happens, City Hall will continue to retain ownership over the 10 acres where the current transfer facility sits, along with a recycling center and a closed landfill. The facility is considered by many within City Hall and in the trash disposal industry as a valuable asset, given the lack of such sites on the
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 12, 2007. Read the original PDF.