(CALIFORNIA) Municipal solid waste generated by the city of Los Angeles is currently sent to the city's Sunshine Canyon landfill, but local officials are set on ending that practice and sending the waste to another location. Los Angeles has received five proposals for handling waste, and while the city has not released details of those plans, at least one--from BLT Enterprises of Oxnard--could involve sending waste to San Diego County.

Los Angeles solicited bids for hauling as part of an effort to find alternatives to the Sunshine Canyon landfill, which has long drawn criticism from area residents. Los Angeles's contract with the landfill ends in June 2006, and Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn has pledged to stop using the landfill. The city's Department of Public Works has also hired a consulting firm to investigate alternative disposal methods such as rail-hauling and plasma-arc technology.

The city has roughly 744,000 single-family residents that generate 3,800 tons of waste each day, and the city pays about $23.40 per ton to haul waste directly to Sunshine Canyon. Trash sent to transfer stations costs roughly $45.29 a ton.

Any of San Diego County's five landfills--Borrego Springs, Miramar, Otay, Ramona, and Sycamore--could accept waste from outside the county, as could the proposed Gregory Canyon Landfill (see related story, this issue). However, officials from those landfills--whose tipping fees range between $26 and $42 per ton--said it was unlikely they would accept waste from Los Angeles County. The county's landfills take very little waste from outside county borders, and do not currently take any waste from Los Angeles.

Source: Los Angeles Times

For more information, contact the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works, (213) 473-8410, www.ci.la.ca.us/dpw.